[Video] Fly into the Future with the Goodyear Aero Tire
Move over, Goodyear blimp — it’s time to make way for flying cars. At the Geneva International Auto Show, Goodyear unveiled the Aero, its concept for a futuristic flying car tire, meant for both the roads and the skies.
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The Goodyear Aero puts a new spin on the term “tire rotation.” When positioned vertically, the Goodyear Aero functions like a regular tire. When it’s time to go airborne, the tires go horizontal, resembling the propellers on a quadcopter drone.
Plans for the road ahead
While it sounds like the tire company is shooting for the moon, Goodyear’s Chief Technology Officer, Chris Helsel, shed more light on the concept. “With mobility companies looking to the sky for the answer to the challenges of urban transport and congestion, our work on advanced tire architectures and materials led us to imagine a wheel that could serve both as a traditional tire on the road and as a propulsion system in the sky.”
Check out this video to see Goodyear’s futuristic vision in action.
While there’s some far-fetched imagery in the video, Goodyear is working hard to make many of these dreams a reality. For instance, the Goodyear Aero has propellers that also function as structural supports. In real life, airless tire technology is advancing rapidly. Along those same lines, magnetic low-friction propulsion is currently used for trains and rollercoasters. Goodyear is also working to put artificial intelligence in its tires, to keep drivers informed on road conditions and maintenance.
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Fantasy or future?
The Goodyear Aero tires aren’t the first weird, wacky wheels we’ve seen, and they certainly won’t be the last. But at this point, real, functioning Goodyear Aero tires are still a work of science fiction. But that’s okay, according to Helsel.
“Goodyear’s concepts are meant to trigger a debate on the tires and transport technologies for a new mobility ecosystem,” he explained.
Who knows? Maybe the Goodyear Aero will manage to sway some skeptics.
Source: Digital Trends
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