Automotive supplier Continental has developed new Future tire pressure sensors, which can detect if a tire needs to be changed in case of insufficient tread depth.
The new Continental tire sensors, which will be fitted underneath the tread of a tire, will help the tire pressure monitoring system to accurately detect the size of contact area to calculate the vehicle load.
Continental Body & Security business unit head Andreas Wolf said it's not for nothing that legislators all over the world have defined a minimum tire tread depth for safe driving.
"We are delighted that we will, in future, be able to conveniently read tread depth electronically with the aid of sensors embedded in the tires," Wolf added.
The sensors includes a software, which deduces tread depth from gradual changes in tire rolling characteristics, while the in-tire pressure sensor gathers running characteristics from the variations in tire deformation.
Scheduled to launch in 2017, the new technology will be available across new vehicle models equipped with direct tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) from Continental's electronic Tire Information System (eTIS).
