Apollo Tyres has shared details about the recently-launched Vredestein Quatrac Pro EV, Europe’s first dedicated all-season tyre for electric vehicles. Specifically, the manufacturer sheds light on tyre development using its state-of-the-art virtual prototyping and simulation platform and how this helped to “dramatically reduce time-to-market as well as the product’s environmental impact and development costs.”
Goodyear has optimised its UHP tyre development by combining different techniques and disciplines through a statistical model, a process it used when working on the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6. FEDIL has recognised Goodyear’s step forward with a 2022 Innovation Award. The Luxembourg-based multisectoral business federation has honoured the tyre maker in the ‘Process’ category of its awards.
Yokohama Rubber hopes to speed up its tyre development process by implementing new rubber compounding technology that draws upon the power of artificial intelligence (AI). It is turning to a process that utilises AI-based compound generation technology to achieve user-set target property values.
An aquaplaning measuring solution devised by Tread Ltd founder Ray Collier has won the prestigious Autocar Drivers of Change Digital Award. According to the award citation, Collier’s one-box solution offers a unique way of reducing the R&D costs associated with car and light truck/van tyres.
Monday’s tyre test at France’s Paul Ricard circuit heralded the conclusion of Pirelli’s initial development programme for 18-inch Formula 1 tyres. Alpine’s Daniil Kvyat was in the seat for the wet test, finishing a programme disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The flagship global motorsport series will switch to the new low-profile tyres in 2022, shifting away from the 13-inch tyres currently used. Pirelli calls this move a technical revolution and has devoted an intense period of research and development to the change, with indoor and outdoor testing. The manufacturer will now tweak the tyre based on 2022-specification car testing.
Kumho Tire says it intends to respond more quickly to changes in the mobility sector by transforming its tyre development process. The tyre maker refers to its plans as a “digital transformation” and says it will create a “twin” of the tyres it develops in order to cut lead times. Through the use of big data and artificial intelligence, this digital twin will be able to predict the characteristics of the tyre’s compounds as well as how the tyre will behave when driven.
Continental has become the first tyre manufacturer to order Ansible Motion’s all-new advanced Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulator, the Delta S3. Simulation technology, which is now capable of modelling tyre performance to an extreme degree of accuracy, is increasingly employed by car manufacturers and original equipment suppliers, such as tyre manufacturers. Conti’s decision to bring in the latest DIL simulation technology is informed by the need to mirror its OEM customers’ development processes, but the system’s most important effect will be the efficiency benefits it delivers, as Dr. Boris Mergell, head of research and development of the Tires business area at Continental, explains. “Developing and testing premium tyres is a highly complex, time-intensive process. By using the new dynamic driving simulator, we will make this development process even more efficient in the future.”
Yokohama Rubber reports it has developed a system that utilises artificial intelligence to predict the physical properties of rubber compounds, and from this breakthrough that it achieved last December has produced a proprietary system that is already being used to design rubber compounds for Yokohama tyres. The manufacturer expects that the system’s ability to conduct a large number of virtual experiments will accelerate compound development, reduce development costs and lead to the development of better-performing products. In addition, the system will simplify the compound-creation process for less-experienced engineers.
With the addition of a new DiM250 Dynamic Driving Simulator, the Goodyear Innovation Center in Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg will gain greater tyre testing capabilities. The equipment supplied by VI-grade, a provider of real-time simulation software and driver-in-the-loop simulators, will also enhance technical collaboration between Goodyear Tire & Rubber’s European operation and its headquarters in Akron, USA, where another DiM250 recently entered operation.
To help it design tyres that contribute towards lower fuel consumption and, in electric vehicles, increased range, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. has developed its own aerodynamic simulation technology. It calls it ‘Mobility Aerodynamics’ and says the technology “represents an advance never seen in the industry before.”
Under a cooperative deal signed with Hyundai Motor, Michelin will work together to develop a new all-season tyre for electric vehicles, and will also collaborate in the development of a bespoke tyre for a successor model to the Genesis G80 saloon. Representatives from Hyundai Motor recently visited Michelin’s research and development centre in Clermont-Ferrand, France, to sign a technical partnership agreement.
In addition to developing a new, informatics-based tyre design technology, Yokohama Rubber says it has established a development technology for rubber materials based on materials informatics. The company expects this new technology will “dramatically raise the accuracy and speed of the development of rubber materials with unprecedented high-performance characteristics.”
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