My guess is that the RFID chips will be used for inventory control at the manufacturing, distribution, & retail ends of things, and also perhaps for maintenance tracking purposes by large fleet operators.

Although the press release mentioned the possibility of the vehicle polling the RFID chip to determine tire data (e.g. speed rating, winter tire or not, etc.), I kind of doubt that will ever come to pass. Not every tire manufacturer in the world will choose to embed RFID chips, and it would not be desirable to have a situation in which a defective RFID chip interfered with the operation of a vehicle.

I suspect we will eventually see these chips in motorcycle tires, but again, for inventory control purposes in the distribution chain, not for any use once they get mounted on the motorcycle and the motorcycle is delivered to the end user.

Michael

I have to say that as I think about it moreI cannot see a practical benefit to the user for RFID - there aren’t too many fleets of bikes knocking around as far as I am aware (except for police and possibly the army). For fleet users then I can see the benefit. For manufacturers there are, as has been pointed out, benefits in terms of inventory but that could just require the RFID being between the tyre and the label so not capable affecting the tyre’s performance but still getting the inventory benefits - probably cheaper too.

I can potentially see a couple.

1) Easy checking of tire age at MoT/technical inspection stations. I just had my car inspected last night - they checked the tread on the tires, but not their age. Haven't ever seen moto inspectors check the age either, but on a bike you're much more vulnerable to old tires. So making scans a routine, and at least pointing it out as an advisory, could potentially save lives.

2) We've all probably heard about how the same make and model of tire can be made at different factories, with widely differing qualities. RFID would be easier to routinely check than finding plant codes on the stamping...

One thing you learn from living in the UK is that there are people over here who rush to blame the EU for everything from their blocked crapper to the British weather.

FWIW, I used to work in the aircraft tyre business when they were looking at embedding chips in the tyres for TPMS purposes. As I remember, it came to nothing as it was more cost effective to build it into wheels. The only future that was seen for RFID chips was stock control, and that could be rolled out into a number of areas in the industry where there are many similar parts requiring checking and cataloguing (seats and life jacket cabin checks for example).

As for the suggestion of a life limit, the aviation industry already has an "over 10 years do not fit" rule but nobody removes an otherwise serviceable tyre for that, normal inspection criteria suffice for determining ongoing serviceability. Almost like you like you would do on an MoT or routine service, in fact.

No paranoia here then.

Correct
 

Agree, there are some people expressing a lot of anger, in the UK over EU and in the US their election and the current situation. It is concerning. I guess they have to be angry at something...

As an aside to the main subject of this thread - I think the reason you see more truck tyre blow-outs on US highways is due to the fact they are running at far higher speeds for huge distances...

EU lorries are restricted to 90kph (56mph), but in the US trucks are free to travel at the posted speed limit (there are no mechanical/electronic speed limiters), and on freeways/interstates that is often in excess of 70-75mph.

That is some hot rubber!

Jx