Tires that don't get to the roads. But there is a “if not”

What if the tires didn't break? Bridgestone has already put on Japanese roads an innovative airless tire concept, but for now it is still limited to small vehicles that remind golf carts.

According to a statement, the new generation of AirFree tires was introduced in Okueigenji Keiryu – small autonomous cars of sustainable mobility in the city of Higashiomi – a week ago, on July 8.

The concept was already being tested in Japan for some time, now moving on to large-scale deployment. AirFree tyres will now equip the vehicles already mentioned at a mobility service in Higashiomi and its partners.

In the mountains of the region, more than 60 percent of residents are elderly and the scarcity of transport options is increasingly serious. Okueigenji Keyru with AirFree tires proposes to give an alternative to this population, with Bridgestone wanting to “helping to solve social problems related to mobility“.

Since they're airless tires, the holes won't be a problem, besides maintenance not requiring such regular care – for example, when they have no air, it is not necessary to check the pressure. In this way, Bridgestone believes that the solution could be an added value in the mitigation of service interruptions, besides representing improvements in sustainability and efficiency.

AirFree tyres can only be used at speeds up to 20 km/ h. They have in their composition a microplastic resin and a thin layer of rubber on their exterior as a point of contact with the floor. The load support is given by a blue-ray structure on the side of the tyre.

He is able to face, without major problems, various types of contexts – including circulating on streets with poor floors and steep inclinations.

Cited by Nikkei, Bridgestone Vice President Toshiyuki Hasanuma explained that, in the face of previous versions, vehicles with AirFree tires are quieter and wag less.

AirFree tyres may provide Bridgestone with lessons for other products but for now, the technology still has many limitations that prevent the generalization of its use – the fact that they only serve very slow vehicles. Nor is there a date for them to reach serial production.