Road to the Future: Airless tires
Road to the Future: Airless tires
2:12

Road to the Future: Airless tires

Auto Tech
[MUSIC] Now take a look at this one. This one is from Bridgestone. It's their latest concept of an air free tire. Well, tire? Like a wheel assembly. First of all, notice the large diameter huffs so they can create these veins of thermoplastic at the length or height that they want them to be. They've got some give in them as you can see there. They're pretty stiff though. On the other side is another side of these veins bent the other way and this they say is key and different from a lot of other designs because the tires got two ways of supporting the vehicles weight that goes over terrain. Of course you can't get a flat, of course you can't get a blow out, but like we say that doesn't happen that often, but the other benefits here would be what? Extremely. Stiff in cornering. I mean this doesn't have any give going that direction, as you can imagine. Very little. You don't have any sidewall slosh as you're working through corners. It might even be unnerving how stiff it is. And then notice this. The tread is actually the part you replace. The wheel, unless you damage it, doesn't get replaced. So all you do is basically. Recap it with another piece of tread making it very environmentally friendly. YOu're just replacing this strip of thin tread rubber. Michelin's Tweel also uses a thing outer tread layer. There. Then an array of long spokes to give the compliance needed to create a good contact patch. Then a more dense matrix of spokes closer to the hub and that creates an energy absorbing device between the car and the road. Britek said it energy return wheel is designed to take the impacts of the road and instead of transferring all of that to the suspension to deal with. Turns it into a bit of torque to aid the cars forward progress or the opposite flow during breaking and resilient technologies has focused on airless tires for military applications where a flat can strand soldiers in a bad place. Their design uses a honeycomb of polymer veins and they say 30% of those can be blown or shot out and the tire will still function adequately. I find the airless tire thing fascinating because of the low maintenance extreme durability and it's got a nice kind of environmental footprint. We throw away a lot of tires that we have to find something to do with. And this would erase most of that.

Up Next

Crash Testing New Electric Cars Proves They're Typically Safer
ev-crash-tests-00-02-09-11-still260

Up Next

Crash Testing New Electric Cars Proves They're Typically Safer

See What Makes the Best Tire for Your Electric Car
ion-evo-as-suv-ih01a-motion-graphics-mp4-00-02-48-12-still001

See What Makes the Best Tire for Your Electric Car

Why Are So Many Electric Cars, Scooters and Bikes Burning?
ev-battery-fires-00-02-02-15-still243

Why Are So Many Electric Cars, Scooters and Bikes Burning?

Seen the New 2023 Prius? Here's Why It's Turning Heads
2023-prius-reveal-b-roll-toyota-mp4-00-00-39-19-still001

Seen the New 2023 Prius? Here's Why It's Turning Heads

The Bestselling EVs of 2022
best-selling-evs-2022-00-02-00-17-still233

The Bestselling EVs of 2022

Best Dash Cams: A Buying Guide
cnet-buyers-guide-dashcams-2022-00-00-27-07-still086

Best Dash Cams: A Buying Guide

GM's Electric Pickups Head On: Comparing the Sierra EV to the Silverado EV
b-roll-gmc-sierra-ev-denali-edition-1-gmc-mp4-00-03-33-14-still003

GM's Electric Pickups Head On: Comparing the Sierra EV to the Silverado EV

Meet a Mind-Bending Hybrid: The Sono Sion Solar-Grid EV
sono-sion-00-09-01-10-still220

Meet a Mind-Bending Hybrid: The Sono Sion Solar-Grid EV

These Are the Cars That Qualify Now for the New Tax Credit
large-15747-2023-id-4-volkswagen

These Are the Cars That Qualify Now for the New Tax Credit

Tech Shows

The Apple Core
apple-core-w

The Apple Core

Alphabet City
alphabet-city-w

Alphabet City

CNET Top 5
cnet-top-5-w

CNET Top 5

The Daily Charge
dc-site-1color-logo.png

The Daily Charge

What the Future
what-the-future-w

What the Future

Tech Today
tech-today-w

Tech Today

Latest News All latest news

Apple, Please Bring These Apple Watch Features to WatchOS 10
thumb3

Apple, Please Bring These Apple Watch Features to WatchOS 10

Apple's Mixed Reality Mystery Headset: What WWDC Needs To Discuss
apple-vr-glasses-red

Apple's Mixed Reality Mystery Headset: What WWDC Needs To Discuss

How This Lab Produced a Historic Nuclear Fusion Reaction
yt-wtf-livermore-nuclear-fusion-v2b

How This Lab Produced a Historic Nuclear Fusion Reaction

RedMagic 8 Pro Review: What to Know About This Lower-Priced Gaming Phone
yt-review-redmagic-8-pro-v06

RedMagic 8 Pro Review: What to Know About This Lower-Priced Gaming Phone

Apple's WWDC 2023: What We Expect
230524-clean-wwdc-what-to-expect

Apple's WWDC 2023: What We Expect

PlayStation Announces Project Q Gaming Handheld
230525-yt-project-q-revealed-explained-3

PlayStation Announces Project Q Gaming Handheld

Most Popular All most popular

PlayStation Announces Project Q Gaming Handheld
230525-yt-project-q-revealed-explained-3

PlayStation Announces Project Q Gaming Handheld

Sony PlayStation Unveils Project Q Gaming Handheld
gaming-image-cnet

Sony PlayStation Unveils Project Q Gaming Handheld

Casper Snow Mattress Review: Best Cooling Bed?
casper-snow-review-cnethome-cms.png

Casper Snow Mattress Review: Best Cooling Bed?

Asus ROG Ally: A Switch-Like Handheld for PC Gaming
p1019575-mp4-00-00-21-16-still001

Asus ROG Ally: A Switch-Like Handheld for PC Gaming

Connect a Meta Quest 2 VR Headset to a PC
pc-vr-5

Connect a Meta Quest 2 VR Headset to a PC

Pixel Fold Hands-On: A First Look at Google's First Foldable
pixelfold

Pixel Fold Hands-On: A First Look at Google's First Foldable

Latest Products All latest products

xperia1v

Review: We Tested the Cameras on the Sony Xperia 1 V

pixelfold

Pixel Fold Hands-On: A First Look at Google's First Foldable

thumbrog1

Asus ROG Ally First Look

samsung-tv-event-cnet-00-01-22-10-still001.png

Samsung's 2023 OLED TVs Challenge LG on Price, Picture

p1100354

Galaxy A54 5G: Hands-on With Samsung's New Budget Phone

p1100232-mov-20-24-38-02-still001.png

Lenovo LOQ Gives Laptop Gamers a Cheaper Premium Option

Latest How To All how to videos

230331-yt-howto-bard-google-ai-v04

Google's Bard AI: Here's How to Get Started

bing, bing ai, bing chat

How to Get Started With Bing AI Search and Chat

car-cam-2

How to Install Ring's New Car Cam

pc-vr-5

Connect a Meta Quest 2 VR Headset to a PC

cast-2

Cast Your Meta Quest Headset to a TV, Phone or Browser

1203246975312353-pnmdl8bwygpxcjffhlcf-height640.png

MacOS Ventura Continuity Camera Turns Your iPhone Into a Webcam