The
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced a strategic collaboration with
Plus (formerly Plus.ai), a global provider of self-driving truck technology, to
provide optimised, autonomous trucking solutions that elevate the intelligent
and connected transformation of the logistics Industry.
Through
this collaboration, Goodyear's suite of services, including connected tyres,
will further enhance transportation efficiency and safety for semi-trucks powered
by Plus’s Level 4 autonomous driving technology while also reducing carbon
impact.
Goodyear
and Plus will explore how Plus’s autonomous driving system can incorporate
feedback from Goodyear’s connected tires into Plus’s online, machine
learning-based fuel economy efficiency, to further improve fuel economy.
Integrating
Goodyear’s intelligent tyres with Plus’s autonomous driving system can also
improve a vehicle’s overall performance in severe weather and extreme road
conditions.
Plus
is already deploying its driver-in autonomous driving solution, PlusDrive, to
customers and is expected to start production of the FAW J7 L3 truck (First
Automobile Works) powered by PlusDrive in the third quarter of 2021.
“Tyres
are the only thing on a vehicle that touches the ground and it’s this critical
position that can help us enable future mobility solutions like autonomous
transportation," said Chris Helsel, SVP Global Operations & CTO of
Goodyear, adding that, “With our leadership in products and innovation, Goodyear
is supporting efficient fleet operations and is pleased to drive more
possibilities for the logistics industry with Plus."
Shawn
Kerrigan, COO and Co-founder of Plus, said: "We are constantly exploring
new opportunities to generate more value for customers using our autonomous
driving technology. The collaboration between Plus and Goodyear enables us to
leverage both companies' innovative fuel efficiency technologies, and harness
these to further improve the performance of autonomous trucks."