Engineering news
Goodyear’s Endurance RSA tyres and SightLine technology, which communicates tyre health and road condition data, will be installed in a “significant portion” of Gatik’s autonomous fleet in the US and Canada, the partners announced yesterday (9 January).
The expansion of the industry’s “first successful integration of tyre intelligence technology into an autonomous driving system” could also boost reliability of deliveries, Goodyear said.
“Being the vehicle’s only contact point to the road, the tyre can play a pivotal role in enabling the vehicle to react like a driver would,” said Chris Helsel, the company’s chief technology officer. “Gatik is revolutionising the autonomous technology space, and by providing real-time insights through intelligent tyre data, we can support Gatik’s autonomous driving system to become even more safe, reliable and efficient.”
Through extensive on-road testing in a variety of challenging driving scenarios, tyre intelligence data on road conditions and tyre health has helped Gatik improve its autonomous vehicle controllers with insights about accurate cornering and braking stiffness, rolling resistance and tyre load.
The data, which is communicated between SightLine and Gatik’s autonomous driving system through a real-time feedback loop, has reportedly enabled “numerous” performance enhancements, including the ability to adapt quickly and safely to a variety of road conditions, with different payloads and delivery weights.
“The real-time data derived from intelligent tyre technology not only enhances the safety and predictability of our autonomous vehicles, but also enables us to maintain high levels of efficiency, reliability and delivery uptime throughout our operations,” said Gatik CEO Gautam Narang.
The companies have partnered to conduct ongoing testing at Goodyear’s San Angelo proving grounds in Texas. The extensive testing includes both common and unusual road scenarios, including traffic lights, road signs, evasive manoeuvres, tight turns, collision avoidance, precise lane keeping and minimum-risk stopping distances.
Goodyear and Gatik have future plans to incorporate Goodyear's predictive road condition monitoring solution into Gatik’s autonomous driving system, enabling the logistics firm to strategically plan its operations.
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