New York (CNN Business)Flying cars, though nevertheless very much science fiction, ought to sooner or later disrupt Goodyear’s tire business. If flying vehicles ever take over the roadways — and skyways — Goodyear could need a piece of that marketplace.
The business enterprise has designed an airless tire, called the Goodyear Aero, which would double as a propeller. The Aero tires would have bladed spokes that act as a fan permitting the wheels to turn upward and propel a car into the air.
Goodyear’s (GT) flying tire is presently just a conceptual layout. Chris Helsel, Goodyear’s leader era officer, said the design is supposed to spark discussion approximately transportation options for the future.
“With mobility groups trying to the sky for the solution to the challenges of urban shipping and congestion, our work on advanced tire architectures and substances led us to imagine a wheel that could serve each as a conventional tire on the road and as a propulsion machine within the sky,” Helsel said.
Aviation professionals doubt that the propeller-tire hybrid should ever make it off the ground. It might be difficult for the wheels to satisfy the car’s needs for breaking on the ground and face up to the high rotational speeds needed to elevate the vehicle into the air; Daniel Codd, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of San Diego, advised CNN Business.
But some elements of the Aero tire design are just like the era this is already in cars nowadays. For instance, Aero tires could have a combination of optical sensing and artificial intelligence to screen the situation of the tires and communicate with different automobiles and infrastructure. Some cars nowadays can talk to one another to help avoid accidents. And a few motors have air-stress sensors in tires to inform drivers of low strain or blowouts.
Goodyear unveiled the layout at the Geneva Motor Show. The organization has a history of disclosing its moonshot ideas at the show. In 2016, Goodyear released designs for round tires that might allow cars to transport in any path. It unveiled plans for moss-filled tires to strip carbon dioxide from the air at the 2018 show.
