Studies show the tyre/road abrasion caused by vehicles in motion contributes to microplastic and fine dust pollution, making this an issue our industry will increasingly have to consider in future. ZF Test Systems believes its new unit for testing tyre abrasion will enable tyre manufacturers to optimise their development programmes and offer cleaner tyres.
Pirelli has inaugurated a new driving simulator at its research and development division in Milan. The manufacturer says it is using its experience with simulation in Formula 1 to accelerate road tyre development cycles and tyre testing, reducing lead times and reinforcing partnerships with leading car makers with increased agility. Pirelli is the latest premium brand tyre maker to implement new simulation technology into its R&D department, following announcements by Michelin and Goodyear. The Italian brand adds that the new simulator is the latest instalment of its digitalisation strategy.
For the generations raised in the late 20th century, the idea of travel simulators raises images of a capsule for eight people moved around with hydraulics to match a film, or perhaps contestants tasked with landing a plane on The Krypton Factor. Since those heady days, exponential increases in computer processing power and the ability to model a rapidly increasing range of sensory outputs from a highly complex web of inputs. Compared to the relatively broad strokes of retro aeronautical simulation, the convincingly realistic representation of the driving environment has become a legitimate source of automotive research and development. The latest simulation technology is increasingly making its way into tyre development as a means of increasing the efficiency of product development. With Michelin’s announcement that it would install a new Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulator at its North America Research & Development centre in Greenville, South Carolina, USA, Tyres & Accessories got in touch with its manufacturer Ansible Motion and its international manager for the company’s commercial group, Phil Morse to talk about the increasing prevalence of human-in-the-loop simulation within tyre and vehicle development, and the opportunities it offers.
Test World is expanding its service offering to include tyre testing using a skid trailer, co-operating with Applus+ IDIADA to enhance its winter testing capabilities. The test equipment captures tyre adherence measurements, behaviour and characteristics in snow and ice driving environments.
Kenda Rubber Industrial has expanded its research and development centre in Germany, reinforcing its development team in Winsen (Luhe). Italian Antonio Gallo has joined Kenda Europe Technical Center (KETC) as a tyre tester to put the Taiwanese manufacturer’s high-performance tyres through their paces.
As of this month, Sumitomo Rubber Europe GmbH is operating a test track in the north of Sweden. The site will handle all snow and ice testing for Falken winter tyres intended for the European original equipment and replacement markets.
Test World recently won Inari Entrepreneurs Association Company of the Year due to the importance of Test World across the whole Inari region. Since 96 per cent of Test World’s customers are international, local Finnish companies also benefit from the business of Test World’s customers when they travel to the site.
Test World is starting its full programme of winter tyre and vehicle testing after expanding its outdoor tracks in Ivalo, Northern Finland. The team has added 4km of new tracks to meet the rise in demand for tyre and vehicle test services, making the total length 84 km. Some tracks have been reshaped based on customer feedback and to meet changing requirements.
The team at Tyrepress.com view independent tyre tests as an invaluable consumer purchasing tool. We will therefore follow the new licensing partnership between Auto Express and Auto Bild with interest, particularly in regards to how it influences both publications’ approach to tyre testing.
The debate over how much tread depth is sufficient and recommendable has been going on for years. While some tyre makers and motoring groups support changing the legal minimum tread depth to 3mm as a move towards greater peace of mind, Michelin has been a vocal advocate of not only keeping 1.6mm the legal minimum but of actually using tyres right down to this tread depth. It is also one of a growing number of parties calling for legislation that informs consumers how tyres perform when worn. Earlier this month, Michelin shared the latest developments in the quest for ‘Long Lasting Performance’.
Swedish touring car racer Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky has been selected to test the new tyres Continental is developing for the Extreme E rally series. Åhlin-Kottulinsky, the first and to-date only woman to win a race in the TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship, will lend her talents towards the development of tyres for what Continental calls “the most extreme racing series the world has ever seen.”
Driverless cars? Continental had those 50 years ago…It is exactly half a century today since the tyre maker demonstrated its first electronically controlled driverless car at its Contidrom facility in Germany. In those days a car cruising the Contidrom circuit without someone behind the wheel was a novel sight, to say the least, and Continental recalls that more than 400 newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television channels reported on the events of 11 September 1968.
Next month, Test World will open its new temperature-controlled wet and dry asphalt indoor tracks at its facility near Ivalo, Finland. These new tracks complement the new and extended snow and ice indoor tracks that opened in April.
Together with autonomous driving specialist ZMP Inc., Bridgestone Corporation has launched a development project to utilise automated driving technology in tyre noise tests. By removing the driver from the process, the Japanese firms aim to increase the accuracy and efficiency of this particular tyre test.
After seven years of development Tread Ltd has published an updated website, reflecting “the expanding number of services the firm offers”.
“In addition to subjective and objective test driver support, our fleet of test vehicles has just been updated to reflect the current OEM and REM/Magazine trends for tyre development and fitments using the latest test cars,” the company explained in a statement, adding the following vehicles are now included in its test fleet:
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