Neu-Isenburg, Germany, 29 November 2018 – At this year’s Essen Motor Show, premium tyre maker Hankook Tire is once again concentrating on future topics and presenting two futuristic concept tyres, the Aeroflow and the Hexonic. The innovation concept initiated with the London Royal College of Art this year within the context of the Hankook “Design Innovation” was launched under the motto “Extending Future Life beyond Mobility”. The task the participating students were set was to develop a new tyre concept for autonomous vehicles and thus to create a whole new experience for mobility of the future. Evaluation criteria for choosing the winners included attractiveness for the user, design and the implementation of convincing technical principles.

“This project is part of our effort to find creative and efficient solutions for mobility of the future,” explained Klaus Krause, Head of the European Research and Development Centre at Hankook. “We are very pleased to be presenting creative contributions that demonstrate the out-of-the-box mindset that we also promote in our employees. Over the past few years, the project has already contributed to the development of innovative tyres. We will no doubt continue to develop new visions that go beyond the limits of current tyres and mobility.”

“Hexonic” is an intelligent tyre concept for autonomous shared mobility vehicles. The designer considered completely autonomous, driverless vehicles as the standard for future cities and developed a tyre for jointly used cars. Passenger comfort is the deciding factor for the driving experience here. The Hexonic supports the vehicle’s efforts to offer maximum driving comfort by scanning and analysing the road in real time using seven separate sensors. This way, the tyre records road conditions such as grip, temperature and state of the road surface and adapts the tyre treads accordingly.

The “Aeroflow” is a tyre for maximum downforce designed for use in motorsports. To achieve this, the wheel has been widened through a separable tread and the tyre grip has been optimised. The wheels have been equipped with turbine impellers to pick up the air during driving and use this to generate additional downforce if necessary. The focus of the design on downforce, which is not generally taken into consideration during tyre development, is what makes the draft so unique.

Following their European première at the Essen Motor Show, the award-winning concept tyres will be on show at further European trade fairs next year.