A two-in-one tyre designed for the autonomous, flying cars of the future has been unveiled at the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show. The concept would work both as a tyre for driving on the road and a propeller for flying through the sky.
The Goodyear AERO concept includes a number of features, such as a multimodal, tilt-rotor design that would serve as a drive train to transfer and absorb forces to and from the road in a traditional orientation, and an aircraft propulsion system to provide lift in a different orientation, moving a vehicle from the road to the sky.
The concept's spokes would support the weight of the vehicle, while acting as fan blades to provide lift when the tyre is tilted. The airless tyres use a non-pneumatic structure to dampen shocks for road-driving and can rotate at the high speeds necessary for the rotors to create vertical lift. Magnetic force would provide frictionless propulsion to drive a vehicle on the ground and, when the wheel is tilted, lift a vehicle into the air and propel it forward. Light-based, fibre optic sensors would monitor road conditions and the structural integrity and wear of the tyres. The concept would also feature an embedded artificial intelligence (AI) processor that would combine information from the tyre's sensors with data from vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. The AI processor would analyse streams of data to recommend a course of action, allowing the vehicle to adapt to a flying or driving mode and to identify and resolve potential tyre-related problems.
While the tyre is a conceptual design only, some of its featured technologies, such as a non-pneumatic structure and intelligent tyre capabilities, are currently being developed by Goodyear, while others may lead to potential new products in the future. According to Goodyear chief technology officer Chris Helsel it is hoped that the concepts will trigger debate on tyres and transport technologies of the future.