Bridgestone, one of the world’s largest tyre and rubber manufacturers, is collaborating with Microsoft to develop a world-first monitoring system for detecting tyre damage issues in real-time.

 

These issues are a serious matter, contributing to some 30 per cent of all car accidents caused by technical failure, said the company in a statement.

 

Tyre issues take four main forms: inadequate pressure, fatigue, irregular wear, and lastly, damage from curbs, potholes, or items on the road, it stated. 

 

Fortunately, most of these issues can already be reliably mitigated against. TPMS (tyre pressure monitoring systems) have been mandatory in all cars built since 2012, and help motorists avoid low-pressure problems. 

 

Laurent Dartoux, CEO and President of Bridgestone EMIA, said: "Digital is such a huge part of what we do today at Bridgestone; it’s imperative that we work with industry-leading partners who can support our needs today and in the future."

 

"By teaming up with Microsoft, we have the opportunity to bring our Tyre Damage Monitoring System to millions of drivers, offering them better safety and peace of mind," he stated.

 

According to Bridgestone, regular service and replacing tyres in time will guard against wear and fatigue. 

 

The exception, and safety gap, has been tyre damage – which often cannot be detected without close, manual inspection, and which can potentially occur at any time. 

 

Damaged tyres can lead to accidents. They can also adversely affect other vehicle components, such as causing damage to the wheels, and thus create a further source of potential danger to motorists, it added.

 

Bridgestone pointed out that be closed. Bridgestone’s Tyre Damage Monitoring System delivers real-time awareness of damage. It uses MCVP’s cloud framework together with existing sensor data, from hardware that is already installed, and uses algorithms to detect events affecting the tyre surface and carcass," he stated. 

 

The driver can then be immediately notified of the hazard and act accordingly to remedy the situation. There is currently no other equivalent monitoring system available in the market. Alternatives would require extra hardware to be installed.

 

This tyre damage monitoring system has other valuable applications. The system not only understands when damage has occurred, but also where. 

 

It thus allows broader insight into road conditions and infrastructure, which can be used to alert the agencies responsible for road damage issues to the presence and location of potholes and other hazards. 

 

Dartoux said future autonomous vehicles could also be beneficiaries of the system – as vehicles pass information about local hazards to others in the vicinity, as well as cloud data stores.