► New concept tyres at Geneva
► Goodyear shows new Oxygene
► A tyre filled with moss!
The new Oxygene concept tyre from Goodyear, revealed at the 2018 Geneva motor show, includes living moss. The moss breathes in carbon dioxide and breathes out oxygen, helping to ease pollution in busy urban areas.
It’s a non-pneumatic tyre, so instead of being inflated it gets its shape from its clever lightweight shock-absorbing rubber construction; it’s 3D printed, and features rubber powder from recycled tyres.
The tread pattern is designed to soak up moisture from the road and divert it into the moss. The water and CO2 react in the tyre, creating oxygen through a process of photosynthesis.
The Goodyear Oxygene: a living, breathing tyre
Electricity is produced during photosynthesis, and that’s used to power the electronics embedded in the tyre, which include sensors, a processing unit and a light strip that can change colour to signal different manoeuvres. Information gathered from the senors can be transmitted to other connected vehicles and to roadside infrastructure, to share data about road conditions.
It’s all about exploring options for more sustainable urban transport; it’s not a high-performance tyre, and it would be wildly expensive to produce in this form for urban commuters, but it joins a fascinating series of Goodyear concepts that also includes spherical and self-repairing tyres.
Read more news from the Geneva motor show here