Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Gatik announced the expansion of the industry’s first, successful integration of tire intelligence technology into an autonomous driving system.
Gatik’s autonomous fleet, consisting of Class 3–7 box trucks, has made significant strides in enhancing the safety, accuracy and overall performance of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Equipping the fleet’s Goodyear Endurance RSA tires with Goodyear SightLine technology, the company’s comprehensive tire intelligence solution, enables Gatik to advance the safety and overall accuracy of its efficient fleet operations, while also improving delivery uptime and reliability. This year, Gatik plans to implement the intelligent tire solution into a significant portion of its autonomous fleet across the US and Canada.
Through extensive on-road testing in a wide variety of challenging real-world driving scenarios, tire intelligence data regarding road conditions and tire health have helped Gatik advance its AV controllers with insights about accurate cornering and braking stiffness, rolling resistance and tire load. This data, which is communicated between Goodyear SightLine technology and Gatik’s autonomous driving system through a real-time feedback loop, has enabled Gatik to yield numerous performance enhancements, including the ability to adapt swiftly and safely to a variety of road conditions, even when the mass or payload of the truck varies by delivery.
The companies have partnered to conduct ongoing, rigorous testing at Goodyear’s San Angelo, Texas, Proving Grounds. Through this collaboration, Gatik is able to ensure its autonomous vehicles are tested extensively in a safe, closed course environment for both common and unusual road scenarios, including traffic lights, road signs, evasive maneuvers, tight turns, collision avoidance, precise lane keeping and minimum risk stopping distances.