Goodyear creates ‘Wheels of the future’ with Eagle 360

Manila: Although the wheel was one of the greatest human inventions, its design has been constantly evolved as technology has become more and more advanced over the years. Nevertheless, the design for the tire has remained more or less the same. But as we sail through the 21st century AD, the American manufacturer, Goodyear Tire and Rubber company, might have created something that would change the way we look at tires and wheels. They recently unveiled several concepts at the Geneva Motor Show 2016. While most tires had conventional circular design with some revolting tread patterns, they couldn’t essentially be termed as futuristic. But in their recent unveilings, they have presented the Eagle 360, which will literally turn fiction into reality. Possessing a spherical shape rather than a conventional design, the tire has been designed to be mainly used in autonomous cars and will require a magnetic field to be fixed on a vehicle.

If you have been a longtime anime and science fiction fan, this concept surely doesn’t sound very new or futuristic, but never before we have seen such revolting ideas to ever make their way out of fiction in physical form. The treads have been placed on the complete sphere that shows how this technology will have a considerable effect on the vehicle’s maneuverability. Be it sideways driving or parallel parking, everything seems a whole lot possible with the new 360 degree spherical tire. A spokesperson from Goodyear tires has also announced that the use of spherical tires will also enhance the vehicle’s safety quotient with nearly zero possibility of any accidental rollover adding more stability. This means that if used smartly, the spherical tire can result in a vehicle that can be tread on nearly any terrain, making it perfect for adventure vehicles such as SUVs, off-roaders and definitely the ‘Batmobile’.

If you're still confused how the new spherical Eagle 360 tire will function, it will be similar to how the mouse wheel works, albeit with a passenger vehicle on top. Although this technology is currently only being developed for use in autonomous driverless cars, there might be a chance that the technology might trickle down to manually operable 4-wheelers and maybe 2-wheelers (Batcycle please).

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