Bridgestone invests in proactive ride technology

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. has made a strategic investment in ClearMotion, Inc., a venture-backed technology company developing road sensing software and hardware that is said to dramatically improves ride performance in cars. As part of the investment, Bridgestone will have opportunities to integrate and leverage ClearMotion’s technology to rapidly engineer new solutions for the automotive industry. The USA-based Bridgestone subsidiary has not disclosed the amount it has invested in ClearMotion.

“Bridgestone has a long history of engineering best-in-class tyre and mobility solutions, and investing in ClearMotion is an opportunity to expand a technology area that is aligned with our solutions mindset and strategic growth plans,” said Bill Thompson, chief operating officer, Bridgestone Americas. “We will be working with ClearMotion not only to advance the future of the digital, connected, autonomous car, but also to leverage our leadership in tyre, anti-vibration, and air spring technology in order to deliver unparalleled ride comfort, safety and more advanced mobility solutions.”

ClearMotion, which designs and builds digital motion control systems, has developed a technology it calls proactive ride. This system, with its proprietary software algorithms, makes traditional dampers intelligent and responsive, delivering dramatic improvements in comfort, performance and safety.

“We want to improve the quality of time in cars,” says Shakeel Avadhany, ClearMotion’s chief executive officer and co-founder. “Innovation coming online now will change how we spend time on the road. ClearMotion delivers previously unachievable levels of comfort and safety combined with handling abilities beyond that of today’s sports cars. The vision for autonomy is to enable productivity on the road, but this is only achievable with a stable, comfortable ride.”

Bridgestone, which offers a full range of anti-vibration technologies through its Firestone Industrial Products business, is the only tyre and rubber manufacturing company to have invested in ClearMotion.