Under test by Goodyear since 1992, this smart tire contains a chip system that can gather and store data that identifies the individual tire, and detects tire air pressure and temperature.
Today, such information must be collected manually. Time-consuming and dependent upon operator skill and attitude, manual data collection can prove inexact and expensive. It's important to monitor tire pressure, because proper inflation directly impacts tire wear. By making it possible to keep tires properly inflated, the new chip system can reduce fleet maintenance costs.
In one version now under investigation, Goodyear engineers use a hand-held reader that can interrogate a computer chip linked to a transponder antenna embedded in a UnisteelTM commercial tire. These experimental tires, and the commercial versions that will be developed from them, will be able to give the reader information that can help cut truck fleet costs.