Goodyear working on self-inflating tyres
One of the most commonly given, yet most commonly neglected car care tip is that you should keep your tyres properly inflated. The amount of air pumped in your tyres directly affect ride, handling, and efficiency of your vehicle. In motorsports, differences in the region of 10-20 kPa make a difference between a winning and a losing setup.
Many motorists, however, either citing lack of time as an excuse, or just being plain lazy, refuse or neglect to regularly check the air pressure of their tyres. For these people, the folks at Goodyear are coming up with the solution – Air Maintenance Technology (AMT), which self-regulates the pressure of tyres so fitted.
Things got off to a roll in July, when the Luxembourg government approved a grant to Goodyear to commence research and development for the technology at its Innovation Centre in Colmar-Berg. No timeline for the development process has been mentioned, but details that have been made known say that all components of the AMT system will be contained inside the tyre.
Government research grants from the European Union and the United States are likely to help speed up R&D for the technology. Recently, the US Department of Energy announced the award of a US$1.5 million grant for the research, development and demonstration of the AMT system for commercial truck tyres.
KON
