­­­­­­­­­In this interview, Matthew Beecham talked with Paul E. Vickery, business manager for Transense Technologies. Transense Technologies and subsidiary Translogik offer both battery based and battery-less tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) solutions.  However the focus of the company is not main stream passenger cars but motorsport, truck and OTR where its solutions either have a technological advantage or offer more than a simple TPMS solution. 

Prior to the forthcoming legislation in Europe mandating the fitment of TPMS, the actual adoption rates of this technology in the European market place was small.  Why do you think that was the case? 

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TPMS systems add a layer of cost the OE would rather avoid as the value add is not perceived by the end user.  In addition the importance of correct tyre inflation is not fully appreciated by the motorist and the poor reliability of many TPMS solutions has had a negative impact.

Unlike North America, the legislation on TPMS is Europe is technology neutral thereby allowing for both direct and indirect TPMS to be fitted to cars providing they meet the mandatory specifications. How do you see the fitment of both technologies in Europe? 

To date the use of direct or indirect TPMS has not been segment dependant.  Basic direct systems have been available on lower segment vehicles for many years, whereas indirect systems on upper segment vehicles are being replaced with direct.   Initially the upper segment OE’s preferred indirect believing it could provide comparable performance to direct with minimal additional cost.  However the increasingly sophisticated ESC systems require more reliable direct measurement rather than extrapolation from wheel speed.

Do you think that indirect TPMS will become a standard feature on future ESC systems?

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ESC systems have varying degrees of complexity depending on the vehicle segment.  However tyre pressure and temperature is in our opinion one of the most critical as if you don’t have a reliable contact with the road other sensors are superfluous.   Direct or indirect will largely depend on the overall ESC system requirements and cost.

As we understand it, TPMS technology is evolving to the point where one scenario could be this:  As soon as the TPMS tells you that your tyre needs servicing, the nearest licensed service station  will be automatically alerted through your car’s GPS, giving you directions to a site where qualified personnel will be awaiting your arrival. Is this correct? 

This is technically possible now but the level of integration required at multiple levels to achieve this are many years away.

In the early days of indirect TPMS development, it was said that the system had within it all the information required to create a vehicle ‘black box’ similar to that found on aircraft. Yet as we see it, this idea never really took off into mainstream vehicles. Would you agree?  In what other ways are TPMS being developed? 

Real time reporting of the temperature and pressure in tyres enables one to minimise the harmful effects of under inflation such as excessive tyre wear, increased fuel consumption and to increase safety.  As some sort of post incident diagnostic tool the information, on its own is of limited value to the driver but could be used by police and insurance companies.

As far as electric cars are concerned, could we expect to see tyre performance to be brought into greater focus and so encourage radio frequency identification, TPMS and intelligent tyres?

The remainder of this interview is available on just-auto’s QUBE research service