BRUSSELS: In lieu of a presentation shown at the now-cancelled Geneva Motor Show, Goodyear revealed its newest concept tyre - the Goodyear reCharge - online Tuesday.
Instead of future drivers having to swap out tyres when they get a flat, Goodyear imagines a future where tyres can repair themselves from the inside out.
The intelligent tyre consists primarily of a lightweight frame and a regenerative, "reloadable and biodegradable" tread compound that builds itself upon the skeleton where needed.
Depending on the driver's location, vehicle, what season they are driving in, and how long their journey is, the tyre will regenerate itself accordingly.
All owners have to do to support their tyres is to fill the core with the proper capsules, each of which is filled with a customised liquid compound that converts into tread when and where it is needed.
The liquid is reinforced by fibres inspired by spider silk - one of nature's strongest biological materials - ensuring that the resulting material is both durable and sustainable.
At last year's Geneva Motor Show, Goodyear showed off the Aero tyre, a concept equipped with a rotor designed not for street cars, but for the autonomous flying cars of the future.
A few months later at the Movin'On Summit in Montreal, Michelin too announced its own version of the airless tyre. Like Goodyear's reCharge, it was puncture and flat-proof.
In any case, whether tyres are self-regenerating or not, drivers of the future will likely have no need to change, rotate or patch their tyres.
