Pirelli Unveils Cyber Tyre That Uses 5G to Warn About Bad Road Conditions

Pirelli has unveiled a smart tire called the Cyber Tyre, which can communicate with a 5G network, and pass on real-time information about the road conditions to both the car driver as well as the network. The car driver can take remedial action as per the data received. The 5G network will pass on the data to other car drivers in its vicinity. Thus, if there are big potholes on the road, water clogging, or snow-covered road, and even in pitch darkness, car drivers can get prior information about such risks before-hand and take corrective action. The smart tire can also transmit information about speed breakers so that speeding motorists can slow down their cars and prevent accidents.

The Cyber Tyre will be a boon for motorists who are clueless about the condition of roads they routinely use, after rains or snow. While corrective action can be taken for fog as the driver will not be able to see and hence, will naturally drive slowly, snow and rain are much trickier. Thus, prior real-time data can be very helpful in preventing accidents due to skidding and slipping of cars in rain and snow.

Pirelli collaborated on the Cyber Tyre project with Ericsson, Audi, Tim, Italdesign, and KTH. The team behind the Cyber Tyre recently gave a real-life demonstration of how a car equipped with the Cyber Tyre and connected to a 5G network passed on information about the water-filled street to the car behind it whose driver took corrective action to avoid the water.

Pirelli has claimed that the Cyber Tyre is the world’s first 5G enhanced ADAS service enabled tire.

The Cyber Tyre’s sensor will be upgraded to record several parameters like kilometers clocked, dynamic load, and to suggest corrective actions to avoid potential dangers like water-clogging or potholes.

In the future, the input from the Cyber Tyre will be processed by the car itself, which will recommend necessary changes in speed, etc. to the driver. It will greatly improve comfort and safety.