In an interview with JustAuto, Laurent Dartoux, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Bridgestone EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa}, forecasts megatrends and how they will shape tomorrow’s tires. He sees the tire industry responding to the trends affecting the entire auto industry: sustainability, population growth, and urbanization, “They are rapidly forcing automotive OEMs, technology companies, and in fact any company connected with the industry, to reimagine the future.”
“For the automotive industry, the fundamental need is for people to live their lives in a mobile way, getting from A to B when they need. These megatrends are creating obstacles for the everyday driver – and passenger – this is where CASE comes in with vehicles becoming more and more connected, autonomous, shared and electric. We’re not talking about all of these coming into play immediately. It will be a gradual evolution, largely enabled by digitization. Tires are an important part of this evolution and will increasingly be connected to the car. This will unlock previously untapped data, allowing us to learn and evolve as the car is driven and by then, support at best each driver on his journey. The tire industry will also become broader, with products being designed for different usage types, such as autonomous or electric vehicles. We are now selling more than tires but, increasingly, we’ll be offering more and more services.”
Dartoux sees tires changing considerably over the next 10 years in response to this exponential change in the auto industry.
“For example, electric vehicle tires have different needs to combustion engine cars because, although grip remains important, too much grip may lead to overconsumption of the battery. New polymers will play an important role to help us enhance wear for drivers whilst achieving the careful balance of rolling resistance to support Electric Vehicle technology.”
Read the full interview here.
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