RFID a ‘stop-gap’ technology on road to smart tires?

Portoroz, Slovenia – For all its capabilities, RFID might just be a 'bridge' on the road to true smart-tire technologies, believes Andreas Pürschel, key development engineer of OE development at Hankook.

Speaking at a technology workshop during a recent Hankook press event in Slovenia, Pürschel noted that there is currently a lack of standardisation in the area of tire sensors.

“We have QR codes, data-matrix codes, RFID, etc. [with] a mixture of functionalities,” he commented. “For sure, not all will survive because they are not giving enough value for the costs involved.”

Among current sensor technologies, the Hankook expert described RFID tags as the most advanced, particularly as the devices can store data and allow freedom to rewrite information.

“But RFID itself cannot work ‘smart’,” said Pürschel. “It can store data, it can save data, you can rewrite it, but it cannot work as a [smart] sensor.”

RFID could, therefore, just be “a kind of bridge” until smart sensors arrive on the market – the engineer saying: “Why, then, also have an RFID [tag]? The customer will not pay extra money for it.”

Giving his personal opinion, Pürschel said the smart tire sensor is “the only end-solution, and will become mandatory as we continue towards autonomous driving. From that perspective, RFID is a stop-gap solution.”

He went on to contrast conventional tire technology with that of today’s premium cars, which are equipped with hundreds of sensors.

“But the tire is just a tire. It is ignored, even though it is the only connection to the road,” said Pürschel.

In future, he suggested, smart tires will be required to monitor driving situations and check what is really happening compared to what the car expects.

For example, he said, if a car is overloaded a smart device could tell drivers to re-inflate tires or identify a mismatch in loading affecting the balance of the vehicle.

“As soon as the ICU analyses this data, it could also change the activity of the braking, steering or distance-control systems, for instance if the vehicle is heavier and so has a longer braking distance,” he explained.

And, as most drivers do not have the skills to achieve minimum braking distances, future vehicles will have to know the make and type of tire to optimise set-up and system interactions.

This, said Pürschel, will enable drivers "to realise the next one or two metres [of braking distance] and squeeze out the maximum performance from the vehicle.”