Goodyear is presenting its AERO concept tyre at the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show, taking place from 7-17 March. 

The Goodyear AERO concept is a two-in-one tyre designed for the autonomous, flying cars of the future. This concept would work both as a tyre for driving on the road and a “propeller” for flying through the sky.

The AERO concept includes a number of innovative features, such as multimodal design, a non-pneumatic structure, magnetic propulsion, optical sensing and artificial intelligence (A.I.). Indeed, the AERO is a multimodal tilt-rotor concept that would serve as a drive train to transfer and absorb forces to and from the road in a traditional orientation and an aircraft propulsion system to provide lift in another orientation.
 
Similarly, the concept’s spokes would provide support to carry the weight of the vehicle and act as fan blades to provide lift when the tyre is tilted. It would use a non-pneumatic structure that is flexible enough to dampen shocks when driving on the road and strong enough to rotate at the high speeds necessary for the rotors to create vertical lift. The tyre would also use magnetic force to provide frictionless propulsion, thus enabling the high rotating speeds required to drive the vehicle on the ground and, when the wheel is tilted, lift a vehicle into the air and propel it forward.
 
Finally, the AERO would use light-based, fiber optic sensors to monitor road conditions, tyre wear and the structural integrity of the tyre itself, as well as featuring an embedded A.I. processor. This would combine information from the tyre’s sensors with data from vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and analyse these streams of data to recommend a course of action and identify and resolve potential tyre-related issues before they happen. 
 
While the AERO is a purely conceptual design, some of its featured technologies, such as a non-pneumatic structure and intelligent tire capabilities, are being developed by Goodyear today, while others might become the basis for new ideas and potentially new products in the future.