A tire with a treads depth measuring device that includes a first electrode and a second electrode that are fixed to internal surface of the tire, and an oscillator that is electrically connected to the electrodes so that capacitance between the electrodes affects frequencies of the oscillator. Changes in frequencies of the oscillator can be used to detect and calculate changes in thickness of the tire and changes in depth of treads in the tire.

A tire wear estimation system is provided. The system includes at least one tire that supports a vehicle. At least one sensor is affixed to the tire to generate a first predictor. A lookup table or a database stores data for a second predictor. One of the predictors includes at least one vehicle effect. A model receives the predictors and generates an estimated wear rate for the at least one tire.

A system for detecting pressure and wear conditions of tires that includes a module positioned inside each wheel of a vehicle. The module includes sensors, a processor, a transmitter and a power source for powering the module. The output from the sensors in each wheel is fed to the processors of each wheel for data processing and the data is transmitted by the transmitter in each wheel to a receiver and data processor located outside of the wheels. The data processor is designed to analyze the received processed data from the modules, and to provide alerts based on stored information and by comparing the processed data from the first wheel with the processed data from the second wheel.

A method for determining the thickness of a tire of a motor vehicle being equipped with at least a tire pressure monitoring sensor placed in contact with the internal wall of the tire facing the tread, including the following steps: at least two successive reference times are determined; at least one instant of passage of a half-deflection angle is determined; the half-deflection angle is determined; then the value of a mean external radius, which radius is estimated in a range of angular positions, is determined; a value of a mean internal radius, which radius is estimated in a range of angular positions, is determined; then the thickness of the tire being the difference between the mean external radius and the mean internal radius.

A method for estimating a tire property of a vehicle based on tire-to-road friction properties for a fleet of vehicles. The method includes: determining a tire-to-road friction for a plurality of vehicles, belonging to the fleet of vehicles, at a plurality of specified locations; determining a reference tire-to-road friction for the fleet of vehicles at each specified location; in a vehicle, determining a current tire-to-road friction at a first location being one of the specified locations; determining a difference between the current tire-to-road friction and the reference tire-to-road friction of the fleet for the first location; and estimating a tire property of the vehicle based on the determined difference. There is also provided a system configured to perform the described method.

A method of generating a three-dimensional topological surface representation of a tyre on a vehicle, the method comprising: using a tread depth measurement device to record tread depth data for a tyre surface moving relative to the tread depth measurement device; generating a movement profile of the tyre surface; and using the movement profile of the tyre surface to map the tread depth data onto a base tyre structure, thereby generating a three-dimensional topological surface representation of the tyre.

The present disclosure discusses a method of operating a vehicle having a set of tires and an active suspension system. The method includes operating the vehicle to travel along a road surface, sensing, using a smart tire assembly, a magnitude of one or more physical quantities associated with at least one tire of the set of tires, and controlling the active suspension system of the vehicle based at least in part on the magnitude of the sensed one or more physical quantities.

A system is provided for estimating a tread depth of a tire supporting a vehicle. The tire includes a pair of sidewalls that extend to a circumferential tread. The system includes a drive over reader, which includes a housing. At least one sensor is mounted in the housing to generate an image of the tire, which may be an image of the tire footprint or an image of the tread along a lateral line or section, and the tread depth is determined from the image. At least one piezoelectric actuator is mounted on the housing and is electrically connected to the at least one sensor to actuate the at least one sensor. A method for estimating a tread depth of a tire supporting a vehicle is also provided.

An estimation apparatus includes a rotation speed acquisition unit, a driving force acquisition unit, a slip ratio calculation unit, a slope calculation unit, and an estimation unit. The rotation speed acquisition unit sequentially acquires rotation speeds of the tires. The driving force acquisition unit sequentially acquires a driving force of the vehicle. The slip ratio calculation unit calculates a slip ratio based on the sequentially-acquired rotation speeds of the tires. The slope calculation unit calculates the slope of the slip ratio with respect to the driving force based on a large number of data sets of the slip ratio and the driving force, as a regression coefficient representing a linear relationship between the slip ratio and the driving force. The estimation unit estimates the wear state of the tires based on the slope.

A system and apparatus that reduces tire scrub on a truck and or trailer during turns. The system minimizes the redistribution of the load among the tires thereby spreading the load of the trailer or truck among the tires avoiding unnecessary overloading. The system operates without operator intervention and is capable of operating automatically on trailers, without control signals from the truck.