Tires That Regenerate Themselves?

Today at the Great American Truck Show (GATS) in Dallas, Michelin is unveiling the latest innovation from its Michelin Durable Technologies research – a regenerative truck tire.
Michelin uses patented design and manufacturing techniques to mold the tread of the XDA5 in three dimensions.
As the tire wears, the tread reveals new grooves and tread blocks, effectively giving the tire a second life-self- regenerating to improve wet, worn traction.
This new tread design keeps the tire in service longer before retreading, an impressive 30 percent improvement in tread life over other drive tires that are commercially available.
“Incorporating three dimensional features into the tire tread that must interact with each other as the tire rolls down the highway required Michelin to develop additional innovations in our manufacturing processes,” said Jean- Michel Guillon, chief operating officer, Michelin Americas Truck Tires.
“The result is a sophisticated tread design that works to preserve itself as it performs.
Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America employs more than 22,000 and operates 19 major manufacturing plants in 17 locations.