Tires

When the coronavirus pandemic forced Italian tyremaker Pirelli to temporarily shut its factories in March, R&D chief Pierangelo Misani needed a rapid rethink. With a new range of products due to be launched by early next year at the latest, Misani scrambled technicians and IT teams to get more research and development shifted online so locked down engineers could test materials and tyres virtually. The pandemic has disrupted production and sales for tyremakers worldwide - Pirelli's r

Makers of airless tyres such as Japan's Bridgestone Corp. hope driverless cars will herald a breakthrough for their niche technology, which is more than a decade old but underperforms standard tyres in every way except resistance to puncture. Autonomous driving - and the eventual introduction of self-driving taxis - could mean greater demand for puncture-resistant tyres as greater usage of vehicles exposes them to more flat tyres. "In the past, a car would be driven about 20% of the time and s

A YouTuber cut one in half to find out.

Technicians will bring tires to you and install them on the spot.