Pirelli claims it is the first tire company in the world to transmit road surface information detected by intelligent tires via a 5G network. A demonstration entitled World-first, 5G enhanced ADAS services took place during The 5G Path of Vehicle-to-Everything Communication event organized by the 5G Automotive Association, of which Pirelli is a member.
Pirelli, Ericsson, Audi, Tim, Italdesign and KTH together staged a demonstration that took place on the roof of the Lingotto building in Turin showing how a vehicle equipped with the sensor-fitted Pirelli Cyber Tire and connected to the 5G network was able to transmit the risk of aquaplaning detected by the tires to a following car. This was thanks to 5G’s ultra-high band and low latency.
The tire communicated with the vehicle, driver and, transmitted by 5G, with the entire roadway infrastructure. Pirelli says that Cyber Tire, equipped with an internal sensor, will, in the future, supply the car with data relative to the tire model, miles clocked, dynamic load and, for the first time, situations of potential danger on road surfaces, from the presence of water to poor grip. This information will enable the car to adapt its control and driving assistance systems, greatly improving the level of safety, comfort and performance.
In addition, it will provide the same information to other cars and the infrastructure. Thanks to the potential of 5G, Pirelli is able to place the tire inside a wider communication context that involves the entire ecosystem of on-road transportation, actively contributing to the development of solutions and services for future mobility and systems of autonomous driving.
“Our tire technology is not impacted at all by traffic conditions,” Corrado Rocca, R&D director for Pirelli Cyber told Tire Technology International. “We believe that connected tires will be an integral part of tomorrow’s premium mobility. Of course, this implies a substantial evolution in the way tires are used, serviced and managed. This is why Pirelli is working already with all the different stakeholders, from public institutions to industry forums, in order to better evaluate and facilitate the adoption process.
“Autonomous vehicles represent a complicated technical challenge since they have to cope with a multitude of different conditions, most of which are difficult to predict – especially during the probably long period of coexistence with current cars,” he added. “It is therefore fundamental to integrate as much information derived from cars and infrastructure as possible. Tire information thus becomes another important data set that can be combined with the other information to improve the overall system performance. And since the tire is the only element of the car touching the ground, the generated information goes well beyond nice-to-have.”
This year Pirelli also presented its Italia Track Adrenaline for trackday drivers, which includes a line of sensor-fitted P Zero Trofeo tires. Track Adrenaline monitors tire pressure and temperature in real time and combines this information with telemetric data to provide the driver indications and suggestions on how to improve his or her on-track performance.
