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Alps Alpine, Yokohama Rubber and ZENRIN Begin Joint Testing of Tire and Road Surface Sensing System
Enabling Tire Business for Generating Added Value in Automobile Mobility
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Feb 19, 2021
Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6770; President & CEO: Toshihiro Kuriyama), The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (TSE: 5101; President: Masataka Yamaishi) and ZENRIN Co., Ltd. (TSE: 9474; President & CEO: Zenshi Takayama) have commenced an examination of potential tire business through joint demonstration testing of “IoT tires” fitted with a road surface sensing system and merging of obtained data with map information.
The demonstration testing will involve sensing of road surfaces using test vehicles fitted with advanced tire sensors that are being jointly developed by Alps Alpine and Yokohama Rubber. Road surface data from tire sensors will be merged with the various kinds of map information held by ZENRIN. The aim is to accelerate analysis and accumulation of diverse road surface data, as well as system development, to enable new value-generating tire business.
■ Background to Demonstration Testing
Acknowledging the need to adapt tires to CASE automotive
industry trends – connected cars, autonomous driving, sharing and services,
and electrification – and the Internet of Things (IoT), Alps Alpine and
Yokohama Rubber have been jointly advancing research and development since
2019 with a view to deploying solutions business involving the use of
digital tools to process and manage data about tire wear and road surface
conditions*, thereby complementing existing tire pressure sensing
functionality. The companies believe systems and applications that provide
data obtained from tires to users, self-driving vehicles or other parties,
need to be developed in anticipation of further changes in mobility demand
up ahead.
ZENRIN, with a mission to “create libraries from the real
world,” builds map databases from the wide variety of information the
company gathers from all of Japan’s 1,741 municipalities using its own
independent research methods. By interweaving this map data with dynamic
information from diverse sources, such as big data held by other companies,
ZENRIN has sought to generate new types of business.
Using test vehicles fitted with “IoT tires” to detect
wide-ranging information on public road surfaces and then merging that
information with high-accuracy maps and traffic restriction data, the three
companies – Alps Alpine, Yokohama Rubber and ZENRIN – will explore business
options contributing to the realization of safe and secure services for the
CASE age.
■ Outlook for Demonstration Testing
The goal is to initiate solutions for the future through analysis of data obtained in demonstration testing. A variety of possible solutions include navigation programming to avoid steep gradients and sharp curves after detecting tire wear or insufficient tire pressure; driving safety support through provision of information on hazards such as road ice and subsidence; and autonomous vehicle control.
■ Development Framework
■ Division of Roles
| Alps Alpine |
• Develop/establish technology for tire wear, road surface, other
condition sensing • Develop/manufacture sensors for tire wear, road surface, other condition sensing • Supply system platform for uploading data to a cloud environment |
| Yokohama Rubber |
• Develop/establish technology for tire wear, road surface, other
condition sensing • Develop/manufacture sensor-equipped tires • Put forward value-added proposals making use of “IoT tires” |
| ZENRIN |
• Supply high-accuracy maps, traffic restriction information and other
information for maps • Merge and analyze information from “IoT tires” and map information • Put forward value-added proposals based on “IoT tires” and map information |
■ Outlook for Alps Alpine
For Alps Alpine, the demonstration testing is a step toward expansion of sensor sales within the intelligent tire market. We also wish to accelerate the deployment of intelligent tires in society through development of system platforms incorporating communication units and clouds, helping to enhance services relevant to the safety and mobility of vehicle occupants, improve the work efficiency of vehicle-oriented businesses, and reduce environmental impact through greater fuel economy.