Michelin supports Olympic Games with 'communicating' tires

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The Olympic Games will play host to more than athletes and dignitaries, as Michelin is using the 2012 event to unveil its latest TPMS and RFID systems to the public.

! x# j' p* T8 s7 u/ aDuring the fortnight event, Michelin will supply tires and the monitoring systems to London urban transport operators to ‘enhance the safety’ and ‘improve the mobility’ of London’s buses.

At present, 85% of London’s buses are equipped with Michelin tires, and by the end of 2012 over 1,200 ‘communicating’ tires will have been fitted. The new systems, being shown at London 2012, combine the X InCity tire with both TPMS and TFID sensors to gather and collate information regarding pressure and temperature data. Michelin states that the system has been subjected to over 6bn km’s of testing over a seven-year period, with some 50,000 tires fitted with the RFID chip fitted being manufactured to validate the test phases.

The 0.2g RFID chip is embedded into the tire and allows an operator to gather the required data, by simply scanning the tire with a hand held device. This momentary action replaces the previous process, which Michelin claims can take more than 15 minutes.
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$ G! a, ]6 v1 c  \8 C: x) U: rA Michelin statement claims that ‘this innovation points the way to new methods of managing fleets, not only of buses but also of trucks, thanks to solutions that will be available in the near future’