At the trade booth in Karlsruhe, the current truck, bus, and van tyre portfolio was presented. The premium tyre Bridgestone Duravis R002 was announced as a focus product. According to company information, it is characterized by outstanding wet grip, optimized fuel efficiency and a robust carcass.
The Bridgestone U-AP 002 bus tyre was also presented at the trade fair. The new flagship in the city bus segment was developed for sustainable mobility in urban areas and is to offer high carrying capacity and mileage. Moreover, Bridgestone is able to offer Bandag as a powerful system for retreading to customers.
Fleets could be managed in a resource-friendly way with different mobility solutions like e.g., “total tyre care”. According to company information, there would be considerable advantages for fleet operators. “We are happy to present our premium tyres for trucks and vans at this trade fair and to be able to show customers and visitors our ground-breaking telematics systems”, says Christoph Frost, Director Commercial Products at Bridgestone Central Europe.
Webfleet Solutions
Together with Bridgestone, Webfleet Solutions presented the new integrated tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) for the first time. This solution, which is fully integrated in the telematics platform Webfleet, was developed jointly. Based on anticipatory tyre management, it is supposed to enable fleet managers to discover problems early on to avoid expensive repairs or downtimes.
Webfleet TPMS was developed for heavy commercial vehicles like trucks and busses using sensors, which continuously monitor tyre pressure and tyre temperature. The data are sent to the Webfleet telematics service platform for further analysis. When a problem is discovered, the system alarms the fleet manager in the office and/or the driver in the vehicle in real time. They will be able to take measures before the development of a serious problem.
Paul Verheijen, Vice President Product Management at Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, explains: “Most of the problems with heavy trucks on European roads happen due to tyre-related problems like too low tyre pressure. Monitoring tyre pressure manually is quite time-consuming, especially as it is not easy for drivers to discover slow leakages. Webfleet TPMS does not only digitalize and authorize the whole process, but also enables the fleet manager to take direct, fact, and knowledgeable decisions to increase traffic safety and to reduce tyre-related costs and downtimes.”
Data in real time
Instant messages, which are triggered whenever wrong tyre pressure or an unusual tyre temperature are noticed, are colour coded. The colours indicate the degree of severity, which helps the user to become aware of the urgency of the problem and to take appropriate measures.
According to information from the manufacturer, the Webfleet TPMS sensors are highly precise and easy to install, as no demounting of the tyre will be necessary. Thus, the TPMS Solution will be able to discover too low or high tyre pressure before it will even be visible. Appropriate tyre pressure does not only improve safety, but also supports saving fuel and increasing the service life of a tyre. As a consequence, there will be a decrease in damaging CO2 emissions too.
“With Webfleet TPMS, we will strengthen our market leadership concerning networked transport solutions. Due to adding real-time tyre information to the system, transport companies are able to get control and transparency over all their fleet operations – everything via one interface”, illustrates Jan-Maarten de Vries, CEO at Bridgestone Mobility Solutions. “For years, companies have been using telematics solutions to understand vehicle data and to optimize their fleets. Now, we use these telematics data to optimize tyre performance. Our Webfleet TPMS Solution is only the beginning of further innovations in networked tyre technology, which was enabled by joined expertise of Bridgestone und Webfleet Solutions“, says de Vries
