These tires repair themselves
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
Self-driving vehicles, self-parking cars, self-repairing paint ... and now self-healing tires? Michelin says it has accomplished this feat by using manufacturing techniques that mold the tread of its XDA5 in three dimensions. What that means to us commuting plebs is that the tire features a tread that somehow regenerates itself as it wears off. It sort of acts like an onion: As the tire wears, the tread reveals new grooves and tread blocks within. Once again, technology aping nature.
Unfortunately, this isn't multi-layered, so you won't be getting treads that last forever. Just a touted 30 percent extension in tread life over the standard ones.
No word on whether these will roll out to passenger cars, when or (yikes) what the bill will cost you for getting into the high-tech groove. What we'd love is for somebody to come up with Transformer-type cars, souped-up convertibles that can morph from mini-vans and family sedans into an Aston Martin DB5 or 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 for the weekend. Yeah!
Heads up from InventorSpot.com and AutoChannel.
(Source: Crave Asia)
