Under new rules announced last year, all cars sold in the US will need to come with automatic emergency braking by 2029. But automakers are asking for a delay, saying the technology isn’t good enough, especially in adverse conditions.
Here’s Goodyear to the rescue. The tire company teamed up with TNO, an independent research organization based in the Netherlands, to produce a tire embedded with sensors that can detect slick, dangerous road conditions and can also work with a vehicle’s advanced driver-assist system. The new technology is being rolled out at CES in Las Vegas this week.
The idea is to trigger the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking (AEB) system earlier when an obstacle in the road is detected and when road conditions are dangerous. With a safer braking distance, a vehicle is less likely to collide with another stopped vehicle or other object in the road, Goodyear says.
Road conditions can determine how likely a vehicle is to successfully brake before the collision. Typical AEB systems are tuned for high-friction surfaces like dry asphalt. But with Goodyear’s smart tire technology, named SightLine, the company says it can successfully prevent collisions even in low-friction environments like rain, snow, or ice. The new system can even work at speeds of up to 50mph (80km/h), Goodyear says.
“The AEB can be assertive way earlier,” said Werner Happenhofer, vice president of tire intelligence and e-mobility solutions at Goodyear. “They say, oh well, wait a minute, my maximum deceleration potential is probably just half a G because of the lower friction potential. Hence the system would react way earlier if it spots a situation where a crash is imminent.”
Goodyear first announced SightLine in 2021 as a suite of “smart tire” technologies enabling tires to measure their own air pressure, sense the amount of friction between the rubber and the road surface, and detect when the rubber is becoming too worn. Now, the company says it plans on pitching its SightLine-equipped tires and software to automakers as an added safety system for AEB.
“We follow the automotive embedded software standards,” Happenhofer said, “so we can integrate very easily with any of the OEMs and Tier 1 systems.”
The new technology has arrived at an opportune moment. Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized a new rule requiring all vehicles sold in the US to have AEB by 2029. Around 90 percent of light-duty vehicles on the road today come standard with AEB. But regulators are requiring automakers to adopt a more robust version of the technology that can stop vehicles traveling at higher speeds and detect vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians even at night.
The auto industry, though, has asked for a delay in the implementation of the rule, arguing that complying with the new rule would be “practically impossible with available technology.” But Goodyear says the technology will exist, and it aims to let its automotive partners know about it.
“The technology is available and it’s just an extension of some of the other work we’ve been doing for a few years now,” said Chris Helsel, Goodyear’s vice president for global innovation and the company’s chief technology officer. “Success out of this is [the automakers] reach out [to us] and say, ‘Oh, hey, let’s see how you can help us meet that regulation. We didn’t really think that the tire could help us to do that.’”
When it will be available is still TBD. Goodyear spokesperson Caitlyn Duran said today’s announcement is about a technology demonstration “showcasing the potential benefits of such an integration, and not an in-market product.”