When Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. started its tire management platform in 2020, the company set a goal of continued evolution. And that has been a key focal point, regardless of raw material shortages and challenges brought on over the course of the pandemic.
During American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council Fall Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition in Cleveland this year, Goodyear rolled out leasing options for its CheckPoint drive-over-reader device that automatically inspects tire pressure and tread depth. Goodyear also showcased SightLine, a suite of connected mobility solutions that deliver actionable insights to fleet managers; Tire Optix, a digital inspection toolset that enables fleets to capture tire data instantaneously; TPMS Plus, a connected, active monitoring system that helps identify critical issues, like inflation trends and tire and wheel theft; and Fleet Central, an interactive online portal that allows fleets to purchase tires, activate service, and gain insight into their tire program.
Johnny McIntosh, director of Integrated Solutions & Tire Management Services at Goodyear, told FleetOwner that when working with fleets, Goodyear’s goal is to look at the total mobility solution.
“To do that it’s not about just one thing or capturing real-world tire performance data,” McIntosh said. “That’s important, but everybody’s got data overload, so how do you present this in a way that people can actually act on it. That is what’s really driving the Fleet Central piece—how do we connect real-world tire performance information that is captured via the different mechanisms where there is digital inspection, automated inspection, active monitoring with a TPMS and turn it into something someone can use as opposed to more information that shows up in an inbox one day?
McIntosh added that Goodyear also built an entire team around integrating with telematics solutions and certain maintenance platforms that fleets already have. Doing this helps fleets better request service and track overall tire health in real time, he pointed out.
“What we have here are the primary solutions we are using today in market,” McIntosh said during TMC. “There are other ones coming down the pike. We built this total mobility within the tire management platform underneath it in order to continue to innovate. There are several things we are working on that will be new solution products and iterations of the products here today that are going to continue to support and improve fleet mobility.”
And just this week, Goodyear announced an investment in autonomous trucking company Gatik with a goal to develop solutions for autonomous short-haul runs.
Gatik has established an autonomous middle-mile logistics network in North America and is expanding its fleet of Classes 3 to 6 autonomous box trucks in multiple markets, including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Ontario. Under the collaboration, Goodyear’s venture capital fund, Goodyear Ventures, participated in Gatik’s recently announced Series B funding and the companies will work on multiple projects.
Gatik’s medium-duty fleet will use tires equipped with tire intelligence technology powered by Goodyear SightLine and build upon Goodyear’s existing connected tire management products in an effort to improve stopping distances in autonomous commercial vehicles and monitor tire pressure in real time.
As Gatik commercializes its operations at scale, the use of tire intelligence solutions is expected to help reduce fuel and maintenance costs while increasing operational efficiencies for retailers, e-commerce companies and distributors employing Gatik’s autonomous solution, the company stated.
