Goodyear teams up with Plus to develop autonomous trucking solutions

MANILA: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has partnered with global self-driving truck technology provider Plus to develop innovative autonomous trucking solutions and accelerate the smart and connected transformation of the logistics industry.

Through this partnership, Goodyear's suite of services, including connected tires, will help enhance transportation efficiency and safety for semi-trucks powered by Plus's Level 4 autonomous driving technology, while also reducing carbon impact.

To further boost fuel economy, Goodyear and Plus will study how the Plus autonomous driving system can integrate response from Goodyear's connected tires into the Plus online, machine learning-based fuel economy efficiency.

Incorporating Goodyear's intelligent tires with Plus's autonomous driving system can also help enhance a vehicle's overall performance in extreme weather and road conditions.

Plus has already started to deploy its driver-in autonomous driving system, PlusDrive, to customers. It is set to begin the production of the FAW J7 L3 truck powered by PlusDrive within the third quarter of 2021.

In a statement, Goodyear Senior Vice President for Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer Chris Helsel said, "Tires are the only things on a vehicle that touch the ground and it's this critical position that can help us enable future mobility solutions like autonomous transportation. 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."

In parallel, Plus Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder Shawn Kerrigan 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."

Photo from Goodyear

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