Smart Tires Use IoT Sensors to Send Vital Data Right on Your Phone

Tire company Nokian Tyres is offering a solution that will boost efficiency and usability, aid with preventive maintenance, reduce costs and stress: Intuitu, the company’s first range of smart tires. They are fitted with IoT sensors that deliver vital data to an app on your phone, so you get real-time updates on important statistics.

The solution does not require any modification to the vehicle and its purpose is to raise awareness of the condition of the tires. For starters, the technology will be available for agricultural and contracting tires but there are plans to extend it to the entire range offered by Nokian Tyres.

Smart sensors present on the tires collect pressure, temperature, and tread wear data and store it in the cloud from where it is shared to a mobile app. Direct benefits from these statistics include better fuel consumption with lower rolling resistance and less damage to the soil through maintaining optimal tire pressure.

Digitalized tires stand out from their non-digitalized counterparts for their ease of use and practicality, the maker says. They’re also a sign of things to come: a world in which every component of a machine is smart, interconnected, available at the touch of a button.

“We have aimed to make the system plug & play,” Toni Silfverberg, Head of Sales & Marketing at Nokian Tyres, says. “You just buy the tires, install the application and you are good to go. The first and most obvious [benefit] is the end-user working day.

The application gives drivers peace of mind by keeping them informed about the tire pressure and temperature, helping to prevent tire damage and warning about possible anomalies. Keeping the tires in good condition keeps the machinery operational, minimizes downtime and other damage related costs.”

The advent of smart tires turn the ground level of the car into more than just rubber on the asphalt, making it an integral, active component that can increase safety while driving. Developing this technology was inevitable when you think that a future with autonomous cars is not that far off.

Pressure, temperature, and wear level are just three metrics that can help fleet managers take more informed decisions about tires. But this is just the first wave of technological advancements for tires. Other sensors could report road and weather conditions either directly to the car, which could take a decision.

If you’re thinking of tires that can react to its surroundings and physically adapt to them, this is not in the realm of the feasible just yet.

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