Tesco piloting WheelRight automatic tyre safety check system

Following on from a collaboration with National Highways (then Highways England), WheelRight began piloting its automatic tyre safety check system with supermarket giant Tesco since the start of the year.

The automated drive-through station checks tyre safety diagnostics: pressure, tread depth, sidewall damage and temperature, and axle and vehicle weight. Most importantly to Tesco, “it doesn’t require anything on the vehicle or in the tyre, or any add-on tracking devices, and it operates 24/7”.

Using an array of in-ground pressure sensors and high-definition cameras and strobes that scan and take images of the tyres on the vehicle from several different angles, the collected scanned inputs run through a machine-learning algorithm that produces a report in a matter of seconds.

Vehicles drive through the tyre safety check station at 10-15 mph and get a red light or a green light immediately afterwards relating to predetermined tyre pressures. Green is good to go; red means there is an issue, and in Tesco’s case, drivers are instructed to head to the vehicle maintenance bay, where the report is already in the technician’s hands as the driver pulls up to the door.

Additional email alerts and reports are generated detailing the full inspection results and diagnostics which enable cost-effective tyre safety management.

“The technology doesn’t track individual tyres, instead it records tyre position by vehicle fleet number or licence plate,” said Tesco.

“We have installed the technology on the inbound lane at our Reading distribution centre, so we know as soon as a truck arrives at the distribution centre if it has a tyre safety problem that requires attention.”

WheelRight is based in Oxford, providing technologies and services that conduct more than 15 million automated tyre inspections annually in the UK and several countries around the world to companies and government agencies, including in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.

Jason Power, WheelRight CEO and managing director, said the company’s technologies are agnostic to the tyre manufacturer and will likely achieve a ROI for almost any fleet with 100 vehicles or more. He also highlights WheelRight’s commitment to collaborating with all stakeholders to improve road transport safety while reducing energy consumption, operating costs and environmental waste.

In addition to partnerships with National Highways and Tesco, Tyres & Accessories understands that Royal Mail, BT, Balfour Beaty and Costain are all planning pilots with the WheelRight technology