THE TYRES THAT MONITOR WEAR AND MAKE THEIR OWN ELECTRICITY

At 31mph, the Energy Harvester produces more than 800 microwatts of electricity to power tyre wear sensors.

- JESSE CROSSE

FALKEN PARENT COMPANY Sumito Rubber Industries has been working with Professor Hiroshi Tani of Kansai University on the development of an electronic device to accurately monitor tyre wear.

For all the talk of how driverless cars are needed to cut the accident rate, it seems there's still a lot of scope for improving the safety of conventional cars, too. Tyre condition is vital to safe driving but it's fair to say that for many drivers, actively checking tyres is pretty low on the list of priorities. If tyre wear goes unnoticed or is ignored, the results can be lethal especially in the wet.

Continental once demonstrated under controlled test conditions at MIRA Proving Ground near Nuneaton that despite the legal limit being 1.6mm across 75% of the width of the tread, stopping distances in the wet dramatically increase once tyre wear drops below 3mm.