Geneva International Motor Show

Goodyear’s Oxygene concept envisions a driving solution that improves air quality.

Goodyear’s latest concept tire, introduced at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show, quite literally brings the future of mobility to life as a visionary solution for cleaner, more convenient, safer and more sustainable urban mobility.

The concept, named Oxygene, has a unique structure that features living moss growing within the sidewall. This open structure and the tire’s smart tread design absorb and circulate moisture and water from the road surface, allowing photosynthesis to occur and therefore releasing oxygen into the air.   

Inspired by the principles of the circular economy, with emphasis on reducing material waste, emissions, and energy loss, Goodyear’s Oxygene concept is designed to integrate seamlessly into future cityscapes, featuring several performance solutions:

• Cleaning the Air We Breathe: Oxygene absorbs moisture from the road through its unique tread and inhales CO2 from the air to feed the moss in its sidewall and release oxygen via photosynthesis. In a city similar in size to greater Paris with about 2.5 million vehicles, this would mean generating nearly 3,000 tons of oxygen and absorbing more than 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.  
• Recycling Worn tires: Oxygene features a non-pneumatic construction that is 3D-printed with rubber powder from recycled tires. The lightweight, shock-absorbing structure provides a long-lasting, puncture-free solution intended to extend the life of the tire and minimize service issues, delivering worry-free mobility. Additional safety is ensured by the tire’s open structure, which improves wet grip by helping absorb water from the tread.
• Generating its Own Electricity: Oxygene harvests the energy generated during photosynthesis to power its embedded electronics, including onboard sensors, an artificial intelligence processing unit, and a customizable light strip in the tire’s sidewall that switches colors, warning both road users and pedestrians of upcoming maneuvers, such as lane changes or braking.
• Communicating at the Speed of Light: Oxygene uses a visible light communications system, or LiFi, for high-capacity mobile connectivity at the speed of light. LiFi enables the tire to connect to the Internet of Things, allowing vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) data exchange, which is critical to smart mobility management systems.

Mobility of the Future – Goodyear’s Eagle 360 Urban

At the Geneva International Motor Show 2017, Goodyear presented the Eagle 360 Urban concept tire. The design builds on the concept unveiled last year with the Eagle-360 and adds Artificial Intelligence, a bionic skin and a morphing tread to the mix. By including these features, the tire can sense road and weather conditions, decide the appropriate course of action and if necessary, transform to the optimal tread. Using the data it has collected, the tire can morph its tread, adding ‘dimples’ for wet conditions and giving it a slick appearance for dry conditions.

With this latest release, Goodyear revealed its long-term vision for future smart, connected tires and pushes the boundaries, anticipating and addressing the evolving needs and challenges of the mobility ecosystem of the far-future.

Goodyear unveils Eagle-360, a visionary tire concept for future autonomous vehicles

Unique spherical shaped concept tire highlights ultimate maneuverability, safety and connectivity

After 117 years of making tires, Goodyear today presented a vision of a future tire that looks radically different from tires —it’s a sphere.

Goodyear unveiled its latest concept tire, Eagle-360, at the Geneva International Motor Show. The spherical, 3-D printed tire highlights Goodyear’s vision for the future and presents an inspiring solution for the long-term future when autonomous driving is expected to be more mainstream.

According to a recent study from Navigant Research, 85 million autonomous-capable vehicles are expected to be sold annually around the world by 2035 [9], for example. According to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Tech Choice Study, consumers are most concerned with ensuring safety through technology in autonomous cars. [10]

“By steadily reducing the driver interaction and intervention in self-driving vehicles, tires will play an even more important role as the primary link to the road,” said Joseph Zekoski, Goodyear’s senior vice president and chief technical officer. “Goodyear’s concept tires play a dual role in the future both as creative platforms to push the boundaries of conventional thinking and as testbeds for next-generation technologies.”

[9] Source: Navigant Research, Advanced Drive Assistance Systems and the Evolution of Self Driving Functionality: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts: http://www.navigantresearch.com/research/autonomous-vehicles

[10] Source: The 2015 U.S. Tech Choice Study was fielded in January through March 2015 and is based on an online survey of more than 5,300 consumers who purchased/leased a new vehicle in the past five years. - See more at: http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2015-us-tech-choice-study