Tire manufacturer Goodyear presents a concept for the future of self driving cars with awesome “wheels” which are called eagle 360.
The new spherical tires are coated by 3D printers to create special surfaces that react to water. In wet conditions the surface retracts by making the grooves deeper. So the chances of aquaplaning can be reduced. The spherical tires are connected by magnetic levitation.
“By steadily reducing the driver interaction and intervention in self-driving vehicles, tires will play an even more important role as the primary link to the road,” said Joseph Zekoski, Goodyear’s senior vice president and chief technical officer. “Goodyear’s concept tires play a dual role in the future both as creative platforms to push the boundaries of conventional thinking and as testbeds for next-generation technologies.”
These concepts offer a glimpse of the future but most of the time don’t get turned into real products. This concept from Goodyear not only offers a possible future for 3D printing in the tire industry but also a future prospect for self-driving cars. Check out the concept here:
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