Smart tyres to save lives

Tyrata, Inc., has reached a milestone in its tyre sensor and data management activities. With the development of its IntelliTreadTM real-time tread wear sensors, tyres can signal the user when it is time to replace tyres, and hence prevent accidents and save lives. 

The IntelliTreadTM real-time tread wear sensors will use wireless signals to track millimeter-scale changes in tread depth. These can indicate when tires has to be replaced and/or report about uneven or dangerous tyre wear conditions. 

Tread changing, Life saving

The development of the sensors might come as a life-saving feature, since every year, tyre-related accidents take the live of hundreds and injure thousands in the US alone, mostly caused by worn tyres. Yet, manually gauging the tyre is still the most common method to determine tread depth. Integrated tyre pressure sensors already provide safety improvements, however real time monitoring of the thickness of the treads was still absent. 

This is were the IntelliTreadTM sensors will come in. They will not only monitor and track the tread, but predict tread wear of the life of any tyre. In addition, the information collected in the tyres can be wirelessly transmitted for further analytics and can even be displayed to the consumer. 

1mm at a time

While the biggest challenge to measure a tyre’s tread is the penetration of all the layers of the tyre without disturbing or deviating the signal. Yet, the IntelliTreadTM real-time tread wear sensors have shown in tests that they succeed. The sensors which were mounted to several sections of each tyre produced predictable and repeatable responses when the tread was removed, 1mm at a time.

The next step will be long-term, in-tyre testing and Tyrata, Inc., is looking for collaborators to join them in this next phase.