Goodyear’s reCharge concept imagines a tire that can repair itself. Image: screengrab from YouTube/@Goodyear Tires
Instead of future drivers having to swap out tires when they get a flat, Goodyear imagines a future where tires can repair themselves from the inside out.
In lieu of a presentation shown at the now-canceled Geneva Motor Show, Goodyear revealed its newest concept tire — the Goodyear reCharge — online Tuesday.
The intelligent tire 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 tire will regenerate itself accordingly.
All owners have to do to support their tires is to fill the core with the proper capsules, each of which is filled with a customized liquid compound that converts into tread when and where it is needed. The liquid is reinforced by fibers 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 tire, a concept equipped with a rotor designed not for streetcars, 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 tire. Like Goodyear’s recharge, it was puncture- and flat-proof.
In any case, whether tires are self-regenerating or not, drivers of the future will likely have no need to change, rotate or patch their tires. IB
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