New smart tires can adapt to any road

Michelin introduced the concept of the all-new Vision tire. It is completely environmentally friendly, it cannot be pierced, and if necessary, a new coating can easily be printed on a 3D printer.

Alveoli from shavings and oranges

The latest advances in technology and materials science confirm that sometimes the most effective are the designs that take as a basis already invented by nature itself. From here, nets with a web structure or robots with animal coordination appear. In this row is the new Michelin development: it is a monolithic wheel, solid in the center and softer at the edges. Its internal architecture imitates the structure of the alveoli, so the wheel cannot be pierced.

Photo Credit: FoxNews

The Vision wheel is printed on a 3D printer and biodegradable organic materials are used to create it: natural rubber, wood chips, straw, sugar and orange peels. In theory, the wheel can also include recycled old tires, electronic components, and aluminum cans.

Tire printing instead of tire fitting

During operation, the state of the tires will be monitored in real time by the built-in sensors. If the tread is erased at the wheel, or the wheel needs to be replaced, the driver will immediately know about it from the on-board computer. Also, these data are transferred to a special application.

Moreover, such wheels will be almost eternal: erased protectors can be printed on a 3D printer. With its help, "summer tires" is changed to "winter" and vice versa. Michelin offers tires for printing at special Print & Go printing stations that the company wants to build along major routes. Using the application, the driver will be able to pre-order the tread pattern and its thickness at the nearest station.