On March 26, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company officially opened its simulation center in Luxembourg purposed for tire design and development. This follows the launch of the inaugural center in Akron, Ohio, in 2021.
Outfitted with a DiM250 dynamic driving simulator developed by VI-grade, the center is designed to enhance Goodyear’s collaboration with OEMs and support tire performance through personalized product development.
Back in 2020, Goodyear purchased two driving simulators from VI-grade.
Using a virtual tire development process, the new center will test and validate tire models for vehicle prototypes to enable a speedier production process for tire modifications.
Romain Hansen, vice president of EMEA product development at Goodyear, said, “The opening of our industry-leading simulation center in Luxembourg displays Goodyear’s commitment to investing in and shaping the future of mobility.”
The center will also enable Goodyear to achieve approval for all development tires with only one physical iteration. Based on Goodyear calculations, the ability to develop one physical iteration will save an average of 13,000 tires and 97,500km of physical tire testing.
“Our virtual tire development team has run numerous projects to date with the leading OEMs from Europe, the US and China,” said Hansen. “Once the automotive engineers experience our virtual development process, they acknowledge both the potential business and possible sustainability impacts.”
Following a successful first project with Maserati to produce bespoke tires for the Gran Turismo in 2023, the simulation center is supporting Goodyear in developing tailor-made tires for OEMs globally.
