Quite apart from the fact that vehicle grip and handling behaviour ultimately depends entirely on the physics and mechanics of what happens within the four tyre contact patches, the tyres also make significant contributions towards determining ride comfort, internal and external vehicle noise, and economy. Continuing our series of interviews with tyre makers, we caught up with Nizar Trigui, Chief Technology Officer and Group President, Solutions Businesses, Bridgestone Americas to learn about some emerging trends in the tyres arena.
In your opinion, what are the key trends that will shape the future tyre industry?
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The very nature of mobility is undergoing unprecedented change. The rapid advancement in electrification and automation, connectivity, shared mobility, robotics, AI and more, are converging toward a future that changes the way we live and move.
Within the tyre industry, advances in technology, including connected, automated, shared and electrified vehicles (CASE), as well as changing consumer expectations for more efficient, personalised and on-demand services, dictate that we think differently about our business and its place in a rapidly evolving mobility ecosystem. More specifically, the growth of electrified and automated vehicles increases the need for tyre technology that delivers exceptional performance while also capturing data and insights to make mobility safer, more efficient and more sustainable. Societally, the need for more sustainable products will also be a major driver of innovation in materials, in how we develop and make tyres, and in how we reuse them to create a circular economic model.
Before the pandemic, online shopping and last-mile delivery had already been established as a major driver of growth for the tyre industry. During the pandemic, businesses were pressed to serve their customers through delivery, concierge and contact-free services leading to the accelerated expansion of last-mile delivery. We anticipate consumers continuing to expect this same level of convenience and safety moving forward. Implementing convenience-focused customer solutions will be critical for tyre and auto dealers looking to maintain and grow their business long-term.
Companies must embrace these challenges by being more flexible, being open to new ideas and seeking opportunities for new partnerships, which is certainly part of our vision for how Bridgestone will grow and help lead change in the industry.
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By GlobalDataWhat are the challenges in designing tyres for electric vehicles?
The EV market is still maturing in North America, but there’s little question that EVs are the future. Overall, EVs perform differently than internal combustion engine vehicles, which means conventional tyres installed on an EV will wear differently, as well. For example, EVs have higher torque and rarely operate in free-rolling mode due to regenerative braking, leading to faster tyre wear. They also are much quieter in the absence of engine noise, making tyre road noise more prominent. And finally, range is crucial in the current EV environment and will remain a serious issue until we see major advances in battery technology and charging systems.
At Bridgestone, we are always pushing the boundaries of innovation. And for EVs, we know low rolling resistance, low road noise and long wear life are key opportunities to innovate without compromises on driving performance – but this is a delicate balance.
Bridgestone has been making progress in these areas with the combination of our Enliten and ologic technologies in tyres. The technologies reduce the weight of tyres by using fewer raw materials in the manufacturing process, while cutting rolling resistance through innovative tread patterns, larger diameters, high inflation pressure and slim design.
It’s also important to realise that EV technology is moving into many different segments of the market, including pickups, luxury crossover and sports cars, so there’s no one-size fits all solution. We must tend to the unique needs of each customer and vehicle type.
Longer term, as battery technology evolves, and range and efficiency become more robust, the focus will shift to developing tyres with renewable materials, diversifying our raw material supply and identifying more sustainable and responsible ways of manufacturing, distributing and maintaining tyres during their full lifecycle. These are the longer-term challenges we are working to tackle, and that includes our target to achieve a carbon neutral state by 2050 and beyond as well as reducing our total CO2 emissions from 2011 by 50 per cent in 2030.
In what ways do you see the autonomous car impacting the tyre?
When you take the human operator out of the equation, such as in a highly or fully automated driving system, or with platooning, it becomes crucial to have sensing systems that can detect and prevent problems on the road.
Smart-sensing tyre technology or other solutions such as self-sealing tyres will be critical for automated vehicles, to help avoid roadside failures and prevent dangerous situations on roadways. Smart tyres will be able to detect low-Mu conditions, such as black ice, that Radar/Lidar sensing system can miss. Smart tyres will also recognise damage, unbalance, or unnatural vibration to ensure safe operations. These features will apply to individual vehicles as well as fleets, and the insights generated will also be shared through vehicle-to-everything connectivity.
What will the tyre material of tomorrow look like?
We are always researching new materials both to advance the fundamental performance of our tyres and to reduce environmental impact. Our work with guayule plants, as a substitute for or supplement to rubber from Havea trees, is a good example of diversifying sources of natural rubber. Advanced polymers will always play a role, as will new ways of extracting more value from used tyres by devulcanizing or renewing the ELT rubber to its original form. Today, only about 5 per cent of that material makes its way back into new tyres. We want to change that and will continue exploring all options to create more sustainable products.
The development of all-season tyres remains a hot topic. How involved is Bridgestone in this market segment?
All-season tyres remain an important category for Bridgestone. Engineered to stand up against a variety of different driving environments, all-season tyre technology focuses on unique tread designs and rubber compounds that can tackle light snow, long highway drives, and almost anything in between. Each tyre component contributes to balanced driving performance in a variety of weather conditions.
A new category that has emerged in recent years that complements the all-season category is all-weather. This segment is very similar to the all-season in that it provides year-round performance, but it also offers Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) certification to deliver enhanced snow and wet performance in the winter months. Bridgestone recently launched its first tyre in the all-weather category, the Firestone WeatherGrip tyre.
Could you tell us more about the tyres Bridgestone is developing for Lightyear?
The partnership between Bridgestone and Lightyear represents the pinnacle of innovation and collaboration between tyre maker and emerging automaker. Lightyear needed a truly unique solution for a unique vehicle concept, one that could meet their high targets for efficiency with low rolling resistance and reduced weight while protecting other important performance factors.
Working together, Bridgestone was able to design develop a one-of-a-kind tyre for the world’s first long-range solar electric vehicle, the Bridgestone Turanza Eco tyre, which features the first combination of Bridgestone ENLITEN and ologic technologies. This combination reduces weight by using fewer materials, while also delivering exceptional rolling resistance through innovative tread, larger diameters, high inflation pressures and slim design.
The tyre was developed by our colleagues within Bridgestone EMIA (Europe, Russia, Middle East, India, and Africa). Utilising Virtual Tire Development technology, which allows for advanced simulation of tyre performance, the team was able to reduce the need for physical prototypes saving time, material and energy associated with physical testing and tyre development. This process is being applied more often within Bridgestone for future tyres to reduce the environmental footprint of development while speeding delivery to market.
What premium will OEMs pay for weight reduction?
At Bridgestone, we’re focused on collaboration and co-creation with our OEM partners to deliver premium products that offer outstanding performance, while also supporting efforts to reduce environmental impact. We work closely with all of our OE partners to achieve their sustainability targets by delivering advanced tyre solutions that are manufactured in a responsible way with next-generation materials that perform more sustainably.
Each customer’s specific needs will dictate the strategy behind the products we deliver. For those that desire tyres with reduced weight, more advanced technologies may be required to deliver tyre weight reduction without sacrificing on safety and performance. It is our responsibility and challenge to develop products that reflect the unique needs of each customer.
In terms of further growth in North America, what are your targets and how do you expect to achieve them?
As the EV segment continues to expand in North America, we are focused on developing advanced tyre solutions that are manufactured responsibly with next-generation materials that perform more sustainably. Engineering next-generation tyres for EVs that push the limits of tyre performance in wet, winter, wear and low rolling resistance will be critically important. However, it will also be important to advance our extended mobility tyre technologies, such as run-flat technology and sustainable sealant, so drivers can reduce dangerous roadside emergencies and OEMs can eliminate the need for a spare tyre, which reduces the overall weight of the vehicle improving efficiency and increasing valuable storage space.
Longer-term, Bridgestone is advancing the development of the non-pneumatic / air-free concept tyre which is a safer, durable and sustainable tyre solution. Our current concept aims to include an air-free tyre for Class 8 commercial vehicles. Bridgestone will continue to implement multiple technological innovations to help bring about a more sustainable society.
The last 12 months have been a pretty memorable year for everyone and for all sorts of reasons. In your business, what stands out as the biggest challenges you faced?
The past 12 months have been incredibly challenging for our business, our teammates, our customers and the communities where we do business. Like many companies, we had to make some very tough decisions very quickly. Those decisions, such as temporary plant shutdowns, voluntary executive pay reductions, and hiring freezes, were necessary steps to preserve and protect business performance. We also developed four key principles that continue to guide our decision-making process today; promoting teammate health and safety, contributing to the mitigation of the spread of the virus, ensuring our business strength in the short term, and positioning ourselves for a strong recovery.
I think one thing we were reminded of is the importance of our work. Tyres are something we can take for granted, but much of the world’s economy and well-being depends upon them. We had to think about how we could best protect our teammates, but also how we could continue to support society’s critical needs, including the movement of essential goods and essential workers across the globe.
Our team did incredible work throughout this crisis, and we learned a great deal about how adaptable and resilient we can be as individuals and as a company. We learned how we can work more efficiently and in new ways, using new technologies to perform essential tasks while keeping each other healthy and safe. Despite a challenging 2020, our business and operations remain strong. We have been able to use this opportunity to develop a strong vision for the future of our business that is globally aligned and will take Bridgestone to the next level.
What did you learn that you did not expect to learn?
Although I knew our team could handle anything that was thrown at them, a global pandemic was not the challenge I expected we’d have to overcome. However, our teammates and customers have shown incredible resilience and the crisis has given us an opportunity at Bridgestone to recalibrate and refocus on our future. We’ve also learned a lot about how to be agile and flexible in the face of uncertainty and change.
