Bridgestone, a global leader in premium tyres and sustainable mobility solutions, has revealed plans to invest in a new driver-in-the-loop (DiL) simulator at its EMEA R&D Centre, which is located close to Rome, Italy. The company's dedication to completely digitising the tyre development process is demonstrated by the new, cutting-edge DiL simulator, which enhances its Virtual tire Development (VTD) capabilities.

The launch of a Bridgestone-owned DiL simulator enables Bridgestone engineers to replicate tyre behaviour, vehicle interaction and reaction in a variety of scenarios, all while including professional test drivers' subjective feedback. This combination, with the aid of AI technologies, facilitates the virtual trial of novel and creative design concepts and the quicker evaluation of a greater number of design possibilities, speeding up the process of reaching target tyre performance.

In addition to improving speed to market and development process efficiency, the new DiL simulator will assist Bridgestone in fostering innovation and venturing into unexplored territories. Additionally, the investment supports the company's partnership with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and its development of high-quality original equipment (OE) and replacement goods. This is made possible by these new capabilities, which allow for the rapid joint iterations necessary to develop tyres and automobiles in simultaneously.

Additionally, on-premises DiL simulation will hasten the business's transition to sustainability. Bridgestone estimates that this expenditure will save up to 12,000 experimental tyres annually by lowering the amount of both produced tyres and physical tyre testing, which will result in a considerable decrease in CO2 emissions. The company's in-house VTD technology already reduces CO2 emissions and raw material use during the OE tyre development phase by up to 60 percent. The savings on replacement tyres are at least 25 percent.

Leveraging data-driven predictors and physics-based simulations, Bridgestone VTD capabilities are being applied to all products. This covers the company's next-generation goods in addition to premium and luxury OE advancements. A brand-new, cutting-edge dynamic driving simulator from VI-grade is being financed by the investment. The business anticipates that the DiL technique will be used for up to 50 percent of OE innovations each year with this simulator, which should be completely operational by the end of 2025. Although Bridgestone presently primarily uses the DiL technique to evaluate dry handling, the business is striving to broaden the range of tyre performance areas it can evaluate as well as the market sectors it may be used to.

Emilio Tiberio, Chief Technology Officer Bridgestone West, said, “This investment in our internal DiL simulation capabilities is a major milestone as we build a comprehensive ecosystem for accurately predicting tyre performance in the virtual world. It also gives us the capabilities to experiment with new and innovative combinations of designs and materials in a fully virtual environment. Bridgestone is a leading investor in R&D in the industry, with more than EUR 800 million invested annually across the globe. This next step is a testimonial to our Bridgestone E8 Commitment. As a sustainable solutions company, we continue to innovate while reducing our time to market. At the same time, we are improving joint development processes with OEMs and enhancing the sustainability of our R&D activities.”

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Yokohama Rubber has established a new research and development centre in Hangzhou, China, as the Japanese tyre maker seeks to strengthen localised product development and speed up response times in the Chinese market.

The new facility, named Yokohama China Technical Center, began operations in May within the company’s new passenger car tyre plant in Hangzhou, which started production in November 2025.

The company said the centre would enable the local development of products specifically for the Chinese market, from initial research through to completion, helping to accelerate product launches and improve responsiveness to regional demand.

The centre will consolidate R&D functions for Yokohama Rubber’s tyre and multiple business divisions in China, while expanding engineering staff and testing facilities. Its activities will include tyre development, raw material analysis and evaluation, supplier audits, and mould drawing preparation.

Yokohama Rubber said the new operation would also support research into new raw materials and the development of local suppliers in China.

The company currently operates tyre plants in Hangzhou and Suzhou, alongside multiple business plants in Hangzhou and Weifang.

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Chhattisgarh-based technology company Aarika Innovation has introduced KoolWheel, an automated tyre water spray cooling system manufactured in India.

The product is designed for freight vehicles and school buses to manage tyre overheating caused by road surface temperatures.

The system uses IR (infrared) temperature sensors, a 5-bar pump and solenoid valves to spray a mist on tyres when temperatures exceed a threshold. The hardware operates on a 12V setup and includes a controller that requires no driver intervention. Dashboard indicators and buzzers provide alerts regarding system status and temperature levels.

The company has introduced two variants of the product for KoolWheel Freight, which is designed for trucks, trailers and multi-axle vehicles, covering up to 22 tyres across six axles. And KoolWheel SchoolSafe, which is developed for school buses and coaches, featuring a 50-litre stainless steel tank and an automatic shutoff to prevent battery drain.

The company states the system can reduce tyre temperatures by up to 25deg Celsius and extend tyre life by up to 35 percent. The technology is intended to reduce the risk of blowouts and maintenance costs for fleet operators. The product is currently available in markets including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.

Swayam Agarwal, Founder, Aarika Innovation, said, “KoolWheel has been created to solve a very real problem faced by Indian transporters and school bus operators every day. Tyre overheating is not just a maintenance issue; it directly impacts road safety, operating costs, and fleet reliability. With KoolWheel, our aim is to offer an affordable, intelligent, and Made-in-India solution that helps fleets run safer, longer, and more efficiently.”

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European tyre major Pirelli is starting production of its Cyber Tyre technology at its plant in Georgia. The facility produces tyres for the US market, including products for the motorsport segment.

The announcement occurred during the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Cyber Tyre is a system that collects data from sensors embedded in tyres. This data is processed through software and algorithms to communicate with vehicle electronics. The system is intended to integrate with driving systems to provide functionalities for mobility and safety.

Pirelli is also introducing the Modular Integrated Robotised System (MIRS) at the factory. This manufacturing process uses robots to manage productivity and quality. The system creates a link between product design and application. This update is intended to increase the production capacity of the site.

The Georgia plant has operated for over two decades and includes a research and development centre. The facility uses natural rubber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Claudio Zanardo, CEO of Pirelli North America, said, “The start of Cyber Tyre production in our Rome, Georgia plant is a significant milestone for Pirelli in this country. It reflects our commitment to bringing advanced technologies like Cyber Tyre closer to the market, further strengthening our industrial footprint and innovation capabilities in the United States.”

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The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. developed a proprietary tyre mould design support system in April 2026, integrating finite element method (FEM) simulations and the company’s own artificial intelligence technology. This new tool is designed to augment the expertise of development personnel, enabling even less experienced staff to efficiently design moulds. It achieves this by providing data derived from numerous virtual experiments, which clarify how different mould design factors influence tyre characteristics.

The system accelerates mould development, lowers costs and minimises the rework typically associated with realising new designs. Furthermore, by fostering a multi-perspective understanding of the links between mould design elements and tyre performance, the tool equips Yokohama Rubber’s developers with fresh insights. These discoveries are expected to aid in creating tyres capable of achieving higher performance levels.

Developed under Yokohama Rubber’s HAICoLab AI concept launched in October 2020, the system addresses longstanding challenges. Mould design critically affects tyre traits, but traditionally understanding this relationship required expensive, time-consuming trial production and evaluations. The process also depended heavily on the tacit know-how of highly experienced staff, leading to variations in accuracy and development time based on individual expertise.

The support system resolves these issues through automated simulations and AI-based prediction and visualisation. It first generates numerous tyre FEM models with varied mould shapes and calculates their characteristics in a virtual space. These results train an AI surrogate model that instantly predicts design factor-performance relationships. By applying explainable AI technologies like SHAP and Partial Dependence Plots, the company’s developers can quantitatively visualise each factor’s impact, easily determining necessary adjustments to achieve targeted tyre characteristics.

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