Bridgestone's Airless Tyres Deployed on Autonomous Vehicles in Japan
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Airless tyres made by Bridgestone have begun to be used on an autonomous vehicle fleet in the city of Higashiomi, Japan.
According to a CarsCoops report on Thursday (8 July), the tyre product named AirFree has started being used on autonomous vehicles that resemble golf carts but are longer.
The autonomous vehicles have been prepared to transport elderly residents around the city, so the workload on the tyres is not heavy.
The inaugural use of the airless tyre product for commercial purposes is considered still far from high-performance applications.
Nevertheless, the application marks the first time the AirFree tyre has entered regular commercial service, rather than a short-term trial.
Bridgestone built its first airless tyre in 2008 and launched the third-generation version currently in use in 2023.
The AirFree tyre is made using recycled compounds strong enough to handle everyday use.
Its construction relies on thermoplastic resin spokes wrapped in a thin rubber tread that makes contact with the road.
According to Bridgestone engineer Masaki Ota, the breakthrough came when the team stopped trying to make the material harder and switched to flexible resin and a structure that distributes the load more evenly across the entire tyre.
The AirFree tyre comes in a bright blue colour. Bridgestone calls it Empowering Blue.
The company stated that the bright colour was chosen to improve visibility during the day and at dusk.
The vehicle’s speed is limited to around 20 km per hour. It is unclear whether the speed restriction is for passenger comfort or whether that is indeed the maximum safe speed for the tyre’s use.
However, according to a Nikkei Asia report, the tyre product is for now only suitable for “relatively slow vehicles”.
Bridgestone has not yet set a timetable for mass production of the airless tyres.
The company is considering a business model that combines tyre production with services such as recycling.
In addition, Bridgestone is developing tyres for lunar rovers designed based on the AirFree design.