Goodyear to Begin Fleet Testing of Air Maintenance Technology

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said it will begin testing its air maintenance technology for commercial vehicles on trucking fleets in the next few months.

The testing is part of a research project supported by U.S. Department of Energy’s office of vehicle technology, which provided a $1.5 million grant to assist in the research, development and demonstration of the system.

Representatives from the vehicle technology office met with the Goodyear team in September to review the progress on the AMT project, which Goodyear has been developing and testing since 2011.

“This phase of testing will go a long way in helping us determine when we can make this technology available in the commercial tire marketplace,” said Joseph Zekoski, Goodyear’s chief technical officer.

Several U.S. and Canada-based trucking fleets will test AMT over the next 18 months in their normal daily operations.

The company said AMT can aid in fuel savings and carbon dioxide reductions while potentially improving tire life, casing durability and safety and eliminating need for manually inflating tires.