Bridgestone’s smart tires will provide safety and efficiency related data.
Photo: Einride
Bridgestone is partnering with Einride, a Sweden-based company developing electric and autonomous vehicles to use their smart sensing tires on Einride vehicles and bring them to the United States
Einride will be able to collect new levels of safety and efficiency related data from Bridgestone’s smart sensing tires and Bridgestone will integrate its advanced mobility technologies into Einride’s vehicle platforms.
Bridgestone becomes the official US launch partner of Einride and the exclusive tire supplier for Einride in the US market. In return, Einride will deliver connected electric trucks and digital services to Bridgestone’s U.S. shipping logistics network under a subscription agreement with the aim of electrifying most of Bridgestone’s land-based transportation needs by 2025.
The use of electric trucks in the Bridgestone fleet is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022. For autonomous trucks, joint development and autonomous pilots will begin in 2021 and early 2022, HDT announced in an email.
Einride, based in Sweden, develops electric and autonomous vehicles.
Photo: Einride
“We have an ambitious business plan for electric and autonomous transportation in the US,” said Niklas Reinedahl, general manager of Einride North America, in a press release, “as well as innovative plans to improve our capabilities through the use of Tire-as-a – Sensor technology and findings from the tire telematics data. “
As for Bridgestone, the deal will help “drive Bridgestone’s transformation into a sustainable solutions company,” said Nizar Trigui, chief technology officer and group president, Solutions Businesses, Bridgestone Americas, in a press release. “There is a very high innovation frontier in this regard, including leveraging vehicle and tire data and advanced analytics to drive efficiency, safety and low-carbon fleet mobility.”
Bridgestone’s global environmental goals include a 50% reduction in carbon footprint by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050, and tires made from 100% renewable materials by 2050.
Einride isn’t the only company Bridgestone works with. The company recently acquired a minority stake in Kodiak Robotics as part of a plan to integrate Bridgestone’s intelligent tire technologies and fleet solutions into Kodiak’s Level 4 autonomous trucks. The companies will also pilot future autonomous and intelligent tire technologies.
