Goodyear’s pilot program aims to predict tire maintenance needs.

Goodyear recently launched an advanced tire maintenance pilot program with STRATIM, a San Francisco-based start-up. Under the new program, Goodyear’s proprietary, artificial intelligence technology will help STRATIM’s clients predict when their tires need service or replacement to improve overall tire management and maximize uptime across the fleet.

STRATIM’s technology tracks, monitors and oversees fleet maintenance for tens of thousands of vehicles operated by more than 50 mobility services in more than 25 North American markets.

“As shared mobility continues to grow in popularity, we are seeing applications where miles driven per vehicle increase from 15,000 per year to as much as 5,000 per month,” said Chris Helsel, Chief Technology Officer, Goodyear.

Tire data

Those increased miles mean increased demand for tire maintenance and repair. The new program will leverage Goodyear’s proprietary, artificial intelligence technology to help STRATIM’s clients predict when their tires need service or replacement. The goal is to improve fleet tire management and maximize uptime.

“Tire data (tire pressure and tread depth) will be collected from shared mobility fleets and fed to Goodyear’s predictive algorithms. An alert will be issued to the fleet if any attention is required. Depending on the severity of the alert, Goodyear will direct the fleet to the closest Goodyear outlet for necessary service or even deploy Goodyear’s mobile tire shop for assistance,” explained Jim Davis, Communications Manager, Global Technology, Goodyear.

“Vehicle maintenance and uptime are critical metrics for all mobility services,” said Sean Behr, STRATIM’s Chief Executive Officer. “Goodyear’s tire maintenance solutions are game changers for the industry.”

Under the new program, Goodyear’s proprietary, artificial intelligence technology will help STRATIM’s clients predict when their tires need service or replacement to improve overall tire management and maximize uptime across the fleet. Goodyear said it sees mobile fleet solutions for passenger vehicles as an emerging market.

The value proposition is two-fold:

1. To help ensure the shared mobility fleet is providing the best user experience. “For example, no one wants to unlock their shared vehicle to find a flat tire or maintenance light on. Users expect the vehicle to be ready to go from a fuel, maintenance and cleanliness perspective,” explained Davis.
2. Vehicles in shared mobility fleets are often highly distributed across an urban area, which makes managing them difficult. “Data and information can help ensure targeted and actionable insights to maximize operational efficiency and ‘uptime’ by a remote fleet manager,” continued Davis.

The results of the pilot program will help determine the launch date.