Two New Tire Concepts Use Tech to Make Your Next Car Safer

Continental Tires has developed a series of smart tires that can warn drivers of and even automatically adjust to dangerous conditions.

Each year, 800 deaths due to vehicle collisions caused by winter weather conditions (sleet, snow, freezing rain, etc) occur in the United States. Continental's new tire technology concepts, ContiSense and ContiAdapt, will help drivers deal with these conditions, and even features degrees of automation.

ContiSense tires will be equipped with sensors that are able to read external and internal conditions — communicating them directly to a driver's smartphones. The technology allows a warning to be sent in the event of tire damage far faster than current tech, which doesn't trigger a warning until the tire pressure has already started to fall. ContiSense's technology allows data to be transmitted via electrically conductive rubber to a sensor, or via Bluetooth to the user's phone.

Similarly, ContiAdapt tires are able to automatically adjust tire pressure and rim width in response to changing road conditions in real time. The system offers four different default settings for "wet, uneven, slippery and normal conditions." The tires can take in information from the environment and adapt to the safest driving surface.

Technology is completely revamping how we drive. From electric cars to cars that drive themselves, technology is ensuring that the future of personal transport is cleaner, safer, and more readily available to all.