Hankook Tire Unveils Tire-Based Future Mobility Online

by Woo Sooyoun

Published 10 Nov.2020 10:39(KST)

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Hankook Tire & Technology (hereinafter Hankook Tire) unveiled the results of the 'Design Innovation 2020' project, which presents a vision for the future mobility industry based on tires, on its official YouTube channel on the 10th.

Started in 2012, Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation' is a research and development project that presents visions and solutions for future driving through biennial joint research with leading design universities worldwide.

This year, under the theme of 'Urban Reconstruction,' Hankook Tire collaborated with professors and students from the Department of Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati, USA, to depict how mobility will be reconstructed as a living space and transform cities in a future environment enhanced with cutting-edge technologies such as eco-friendliness, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence (AI), and expanded automation infrastructure.

Hankook Tire's future mobility platform HPS-Cell unveiled at 'Design Innovation 2020'/Photo by Hankook Tire

In particular, this project proposed the platform 'HPS (Hankook Platform System)-Cell,' which applies Hankook Tire's future innovative technology 'H.E.M (Hankook Electric Mobility Technology)' based on tires, the essence of mobility. Through this, the functions of POD (space) combined with the mobility platform, which is the foundation of movement, were separated to complete a tire-centered modular platform scenario.

The tires of the 'HPS-Cell' are airless tires with a unit lattice-structured framework applied to realize complex stiffness. Utilizing sensor technology, they monitor the tire tread and road surface conditions in real time, respond to risks caused by wear, and replace the optimal tread pattern suitable for the road surface through variable wheels and optimized infrastructure. This is a concept tire.

The results, presented in the form of an animation video and a 'Working Mockup,' demonstrate the mobility of purpose-optimized PODs combined with the platform for users in the future urban environment of 2040. The modular structured platform can also be combined with commercial PODs such as urban agriculture, maximizing the scalability and efficiency of mobility within future smart cities.