San Angelo Goodyear Proving Grounds Now Testing Self Driving Trucks

SAN ANGELO, TX - The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and Gatik, the leader in autonomous logistics, announced the expansion of the industry's first successful integration of tire intelligence technology into an autonomous driving system.

The companies have partnered to conduct ongoing, rigorous testing at Goodyear's San Angelo, Texas, Proving Grounds. 

Through this collaboration, Gatik is able to ensure its autonomous vehicles are tested extensively in a safe, closed course environment for both common and unusual road scenarios, including traffic lights, road signs, evasive maneuvers, tight turns, collision avoidance, precise lane keeping and minimum risk stopping distances.

According to information released by Goodyear, Gatik's autonomous fleet, consisting of Class 3–7 box trucks, has made significant strides in enhancing the safety, accuracy, and overall performance of autonomous vehicles. 

Equipping the fleet's Goodyear Endurance® RSA® tires with "Goodyear SightLine" technology, the company's comprehensive tire intelligence solution, enables Gatik to advance the safety and overall accuracy of its efficient fleet operations while also improving delivery uptime and reliability. 

This year, Gatik plans to implement the intelligent tire solution into a significant portion of its autonomous fleet across the U.S. and Canada.

"Being the vehicle's only contact point to the road, the tire can play a pivotal role in enabling the vehicle to react as a driver would," said Chris Helsel, senior vice president, Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer at Goodyear. "Gatik is revolutionizing the autonomous technology space, and by providing real-time insights through intelligent tire data, we can support Gatik's autonomous driving system to become even more safe, reliable, and efficient."

Through extensive on-road testing in a wide variety of challenging real-world driving scenarios, tire intelligence data regarding road conditions and tire health have helped Gatik advance its AV controllers with insights about accurate cornering and braking stiffness, rolling resistance, and tire load. 

This data, which is communicated between Goodyear SightLine technology and Gatik's autonomous driving system through a real-time feedback loop, has enabled Gatik to yield numerous performance enhancements, including the ability to adapt swiftly and safely to a variety of road conditions, even when the mass or payload of the truck varies by delivery.

"The groundbreaking integration of Goodyear SightLine technology into Gatik's autonomous fleet is a first in the industry. The real-time data derived from intelligent tire technology not only enhances the safety and predictability of our autonomous vehicles but also enables us to maintain high levels of efficiency, reliability, and delivery uptime throughout our operations," said Gautam Narang, Gatik CEO and Co-founder.