Gaining a Cerebrum helps make tyres smarter

Cerebrum Sensor Technologies was a new name to Tyres & Accessories when we came across the company at the end of December. but the company won a breakthrough award at the 2019 SEMA show and is working hard to market itself in the TPMS/smart tyre space.

As Cerebrum writes, the so-called “intelligent tyre” market utilizes tyre and/or wheel sensors to send real-time data on tyre conditions to vehicles and the cloud. Several market research and trend reporting companies including MarketPrimes, TheMarketReports and others have identified Cerebrum Sensor Technologies as “a leader in the emerging, multi-billion dollar Intelligent Tire Sensor market.” There is even the suggestion that  Cerebrum stands alongside notable brands like Continental (VDO), Sensata (Schrader), and Bridgestone, but the company clearly cannot be operating at that scale yet.

Nevertheless, Cerebrum points to its originality as a distinguishing feature. According to the company, Cerebrum “is the first company in the market to offer unique IoT enabled hardware and insights such as tyre tread depth, radial load, and more.” And what’s more Cerebrum solutions are “currently being integrated to fleets, OEMs and smart cities around the world with the vision of achieving safer and more efficient vehicle operations through tyre intelligence”.

However, Cerebrum is not an built-in tyre senor but rather an aftermarket kit which is compatible with “most passenger and light truck vehicles, trailers and fits nearly every size and brand tyre”. Cerebrum is not initially designed for use in donut tyres or two-wheel, however “these options will be available in the future”.

Cerebrum Sensor kits are installed inside of each tyre on the inner lining, opposite of the tyre tread. Therefore, it is necessary to dismount the tyre from the wheel to install.

With sustainability a growing interest in the tyre business, it is interesting to note that Cerebrum Sensors are reusable and can be “separated from the base, retaining housing which is cured to the inner lining during installation”.

The battery life of each Cerebrum Sensor is approximately 5-7 years for traditional use as a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) with an average annual driving of 15,000 miles.  With normal usage of the advanced features of Cerebrum such as the tread depth calculation, Advanced Mode, etc. Cerebrum Sensors will last closer to 5 years.

Cerebrum Sensors include a 1-year, free replacement warranty for manufacturing defects, premature battery failure or failure during normal use. “Normal use” appears to include a wide range of conditions since Cerebrum Sensors are designed to withstand “conditions for most on and off road passenger and light truck vehicles” including “pavement, mud, gravel, etc” and temperatures between -40 125 degrees Celcius.