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Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

interestingengineering.com

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Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#151

Post by barbazoo »

throwawaytire01 wrote: post #99
gbil wrote: post #30

That "Hit the Streets" is an exaggeration, the actual quote from the article on timeline: -- the company said they were on track for tires to reach the market by 2024. --

I am an engineer working in the tire industry (throwaway is needed here). The Michelin "Tweel" IP was actually acquired when Michelin bought BF Goodrich 31 years ago. Goodrich developed the concept as a replacement for compact spare tires, doing the initial R&D in the 1980s. Every 3--5 years Michelin has a press release like this, and the technology is always 3--5 years away from release. Currently the US DOT and it'…

> the technology is always 3--5 years away from release

just in time for Tesla's FSD then /s

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#152

Post by barbazoo »

tokai wrote: post #12
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #4

Even if these tires aren't good enough for the snobs who want everything to be silent and handle perfectly they'll be great for trailers, yard trucks and other rarely used vehicles that rack up few miles and run run old-ish tires (which tend to be more plagued by slow leaks and whatnot) but still need to go highway speed.

Nothing snobbish about wanting silent tires. Tires are one of the main factors for road noise, and road noise causes adverse health effects and death on a large scale.

It'll be interesting to hear those on a EV whose afaik main source of noise are the tires.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#153

Post by pandaman »

i_am_proteus wrote: post #85
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Connected: Reports tread status and configuration, e.g. to inform the driver that he should change to a winter tire tread. That sounds like everything that's terrible about printer ink but with the decimal moved once to the right. I can imagine a world where your tires stop working because you had them re-treaded with a tread pattern or the OEM won't honor a warranty item because you didn't use an approved brand of…

Your printer running out of ink does not have an associated risk of death and injury. Tire wear does. Existing air-filled tires are already "connected" on modern vehicles - pressure sensors that link to the vehicle's on-board diagnostics and inform the driver of low pressure, often before there's any other visible, audible, or mechanical indication that the tire has a leak.

Modern cars have tons of sensors but none of them are in the consumable parts such as tires[+]. It's important because it means you can use any consumables (gas, oil, coolant, washer liquid, tires) as long as they meet objective physical requirements the car expects.

If the tires provide enough traction and are of the correct size then any modern car will work with them fine. "Connected" tires sounds like there is a direct (as opposed to the car measuring the tire's shape in the TPMS from your example) information exchange between the tire and the car, something that does not happen now and appears to be susceptible to the same marketing practices printer manufacturers use.

[+] Some cars have "sensors" in the brake pads, which amounts to a wire loop inside the pad, which gets cut as the pad wears down, owners of these cars are not happy about this "feature".

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#154

Post by mcguire »

throwawaytire01 wrote: post #99
gbil wrote: post #30

That "Hit the Streets" is an exaggeration, the actual quote from the article on timeline: -- the company said they were on track for tires to reach the market by 2024. --

I am an engineer working in the tire industry (throwaway is needed here). The Michelin "Tweel" IP was actually acquired when Michelin bought BF Goodrich 31 years ago. Goodrich developed the concept as a replacement for compact spare tires, doing the initial R&D in the 1980s. Every 3--5 years Michelin has a press release like this, and the technology is always 3--5 years away from release. Currently the US DOT and it'…

I've seen them quite a bit lately on commercial lawn mowers.

Of course, there, puncture resistance trumps vehicle control and ride comfort by a large margin.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#155

Post by zardo »

pandaman wrote: post #153
i_am_proteus wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your printer running out of ink does not have an associated risk of death and injury. Tire wear does. Existing air-filled tires are already "connected" on modern vehicles - pressure sensors that link to the vehicle's on-board diagnostics and inform the driver of low pressure, often before there's any other visible, audible, or mechanical indication that the tire has a leak.

Modern cars have tons of sensors but none of them are in the consumable parts such as tires[+]. It's important because it means you can use any consumables (gas, oil, coolant, washer liquid, tires) as long as they meet objective physical requirements the car expects. If the tires provide enough traction and are of the correct size then any modern car will work with them fine. "Connected" tires sounds like there is a…

>"Connected" tires sounds like there is a direct (as opposed to the car measuring the tire's shape in the TPMS from your example) information exchange between the tire and the car, something that does not happen now

Michelin sells a tire mounted TPMS, also available pre-installed.

https://business.michelinman.com/construction-industry/servi...

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#156

Post by hermitdev »

jagger27 wrote: post #132
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>rechargeable >sustainable "retreadable" but the marketing department didn't think that had sufficient appeal for the demographics the press release was targeted it.

It's common for aircraft and other heavy duty equipment's tires to be retreaded. Seems like a reasonable thing to do on passenger vehicles if it can be scaled.

It's also common for semis to shed retreads at highway speeds. Having hit one on the highway, no thanks. We don't need more highway missiles and debris, which is precisely what would happen if retreads were common on passenger vehicles.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#157

Post by rootusrootus »

coryrc wrote: post #95
ashtonkem wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also a decent chunk of what causes economic blight for housing nearby highways.

I would think it's the air pollution reducing your lifespan and causing asthma. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6203a8.htm

The air pollution near a highway may be measurable, but it is not immediately visible. The road noise, on the other hand, is overwhelming as soon as you step outside. For sure road noise drives more of the blight on housing value near high speed highways.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#158

Post by pandaman »

zardo wrote: post #155
pandaman wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern cars have tons of sensors but none of them are in the consumable parts such as tires[+]. It's important because it means you can use any consumables (gas, oil, coolant, washer liquid, tires) as long as they meet objective physical requirements the car expects. If the tires provide enough traction and are of the correct size then any modern car will work with them fine. "Connected" tires sounds like there is a…

>"Connected" tires sounds like there is a direct (as opposed to the car measuring the tire's shape in the TPMS from your example) information exchange between the tire and the car, something that does not happen now Michelin sells a tire mounted TPMS, also available pre-installed. https://business.michelinman.com/construction-industry/servi...

Not for cars, though. There is probably a market for tire monitoring in mining equipment, which is probably not constructed with the same built-in systems that consumer cars have.

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#159

Post by NikolaNovak »

throwawaytire01 wrote: post #99
gbil wrote: post #30

That "Hit the Streets" is an exaggeration, the actual quote from the article on timeline: -- the company said they were on track for tires to reach the market by 2024. --

I am an engineer working in the tire industry (throwaway is needed here). The Michelin "Tweel" IP was actually acquired when Michelin bought BF Goodrich 31 years ago. Goodrich developed the concept as a replacement for compact spare tires, doing the initial R&D in the 1980s. Every 3--5 years Michelin has a press release like this, and the technology is always 3--5 years away from release. Currently the US DOT and it'…

Thank you for perspective; I felt strongly that I've seen excited articles like this several times in the last decade or more. I was starting to wonder if I'm missing some changes or concepts that would explain the discrepancy :)

Re: Michelin's airless tires are scheduled for market launch in 2024

#160

Post by vel0city »

throwawaytire01 wrote: post #99
gbil wrote: post #30

That "Hit the Streets" is an exaggeration, the actual quote from the article on timeline: -- the company said they were on track for tires to reach the market by 2024. --

I am an engineer working in the tire industry (throwaway is needed here). The Michelin "Tweel" IP was actually acquired when Michelin bought BF Goodrich 31 years ago. Goodrich developed the concept as a replacement for compact spare tires, doing the initial R&D in the 1980s. Every 3--5 years Michelin has a press release like this, and the technology is always 3--5 years away from release. Currently the US DOT and it'…

I grew up down the street from NASA. Airless tires was always just a few years away since I learned to ride a bike.
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