Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have designed and tested a new type of modular tire aimed at making it smarter and more sustainable. As part of the ECOTIRE project, they have developed a removable silicone tread that can significantly increase durability, reduce abrasive wear, and mitigate pollution caused by rubber waste.

Despite being the vehicle's sole point of contact with the road, the basic design of the tire has barely changed in decades. Once worn down, millions of tons of tire casings—whose main structure remains intact—end up as difficult-to-manage waste. To address this challenge, research conducted by the UC3M team proposes replacing the traditional chemical bond with a strictly mechanical one.

The core innovation of ECOTIRE, as this UC3M project is named, lies in retaining the main body of the wheel (the casing) and replacing only the tread when it degrades, which accounts for less than 20% of the tire's total weight. "As it wears down, a conventional tire releases highly harmful particles into the atmosphere. The use of a mechanical bond enables the combination of more sustainable and biocompatible materials," states Daniel García-Pozuelo, one of the researchers on the ECOTIRE project from UC3M's Department of Mechanical Engineering.

In research published in the journal Applied Sciences, they analyzed the wear and friction behavior of conventional rubber compared to silicone rubber, demonstrating that silicone exhibits approximately ten times less deterioration and offers greater stability.

Toward a new generation of smart, connected tires

In addition to material sustainability, the project seeks to transform the tire into an active vehicle component through the integration of various sensors. "We envision a smart, instrumented tire that provides key data for the vehicle and infrastructure, adapting seamlessly to the needs of autonomous vehicles," notes Daniel García-Pozuelo.

This instrumentation enables real-time measurement of critical vehicle dynamics variables, such as forces transmitted to the road, contact pressure, slip angle, and the available friction coefficient. In this way, the tire ceases to be a passive component and proactively "informs" Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) or the autonomous vehicle's central computer about imminent hazards like aquaplaning or ice patches, allowing systems such as ABS or stability control to intervene before the driver perceives the danger.

Experimental testing with the physical prototype has yielded highly promising results. In a complementary study published in the scientific journal Measurement, the researchers evaluated system integrity on a rolling test rig, independently controlling normal load, radius, slip angle, slip ratio, and inflation pressure. "The behavior of our tire is already similar enough to that of conventional tires that we are very close to transferring it to the industry alongside companies in the sector, although there is still a long road ahead before it reaches society," concludes Daniel García-Pozuelo. The results obtained so far consolidate the ECOTIRE project's roadmap toward full-scale testing and accelerating technology transfer to the automotive industry.

YouTube interview: https://youtu.be/T0NCUdNsAr4