Experts Say AI Will Fundamentally Change Tyre Development
AI Tire Design
Artificial intelligence could take on as much as 80% of tyre design work — and complete it in seconds — speakers at the Tire Society’s annual meeting told attendees in Akron.
The Annual Meeting
The point was made at the Tire Society’s 45th Annual Conference on Tire Science and Technology, held at the University of Akron’s Jean Hower Taber Student Union. Running under the theme “Reinventing the Tire: Digital Transformation, Data-Driven Advances, and Predictive Methods,” the gathering brings together engineers, researchers and executives from tire makers, suppliers, labs and universities across North America, Europe and Asia. The Tire Society, the not-for-profit scientific organization for the tire industry, pairs plenary lectures with its annual awards presentation and business meeting over the two-day program.
The Presenters
Bruno Finco, chief technology officer and co-founder of startup MOVEdot AI, a Y Combinator-backed (YC F25) company, presented a plenary lecture alongside chief executive Girish Radhakrishnan titled “AI Agents in Tire R&D: Accelerating Design Cycles Across Lab, Track, and Simulation.” The pair showed real examples of AI agents combining lab data, track testing and simulation to speed up design work.
What the Shift Could Mean
If AI reliably handles the bulk of iteration and simulation, engineering teams could refocus effort away from routine design tasks and toward higher-level decisions and validation. Proponents frame the transition as moving tire engineering from a testing-centered process to one built around connected data, digital twins and predictive models that accelerate each design cycle.
An Open Question
The discussion reflects a broader industry dialogue about how machine learning tools reshape tyre engineering, even as the practical limits, validation steps and safeguards that would underpin wider adoption continue to be worked out. Adam Stackpole of Stackpole Engineering Services, the 2026 conference program chair, captured the mood by describing the moment as a real inflection point for the industry. For now, the early signals point to AI as a complement to engineers, automating the repetitive portions of the design workflow rather than replacing the people who set its direction.
Design Meets The Circular Tire
However tire geometry and compounding evolve, the material that replaces petrochemical carbon black is already here. Klean Industries produces recovered carbon black (rCB) that substitutes for virgin carbon black across tires, belts, hoses, plastics and inks, backed by eight rCB plants in India. As design cycles accelerate, the feedstock question — what the next tire is actually built from — becomes the next frontier.
Learn More:
Build The Next Tire On Recovered Carbon Black
Klean Industries turns end-of-life tires into specification-grade recovered carbon black for tomorrow’s tire compounds.
With KBR holding Klean’s TyreNova technology in its IP portfolio, every Klean project runs on accountability, open-book reporting and performance guarantees.
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