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Car parts supplier Bridgestone is testing advances in tyres that never puncture, potentially smoothing the path for more self-driving vehicles.
汽车零部件供应商普利司通(Bridgestone)正在测试永不爆胎的轮胎技术，这可能会为更多自动驾驶汽车的发展铺平道路。
The Japanese company, which vies with France’s Michelin to be the world’s largest tyre supplier, has developed an air-free version it says can support a 1-tonne vehicle driving at 60km an hour, a big advance over the capabilities of solid tyres a decade ago.
这家日本公司与法国米其林(Michelin)竞争成为世界上最大的轮胎供应商，它开发了一种无气轮胎，据称可以支持1吨重的车辆以每小时60公里的速度行驶，这与十年前的实心轮胎性能相比有了很大的进步。
New computer-enabled structures and materials have led to significant innovations to improve their performance at higher speeds and weights, making them contenders to replace pneumatic tyres just as driverless vehicles are putting a premium on safety and no stoppages.
新型计算机支持的结构和材料带来了显著的创新，提高了它们在更高速度和重量下的性能，使其成为替代充气轮胎的有力竞争者，此际无人驾驶汽车对安全性和无停顿的要求也越来越高。
But pneumatic tyres’ huge performance and cost advantages make them extremely tough to dislodge.
但充气轮胎在性能和成本方面的巨大优势使其极难被取代。
The new tyres are being trialled on shuttle buses and tourist vehicles, as Japan seeks to bring autonomous driving to rural communities to address shortages of drivers and mechanics. The innovation is also seen as a potential differentiator amid rising Chinese and Indian competition.
这种新型轮胎正在穿梭巴士和旅游车辆上试用，因为日本正努力将自动驾驶引入农村社区，以解决司机和机械师短缺的问题。在中国和印度日益激烈的竞争中，这种创新也被视为一种潜在的差异化优势。
“When we eventually get to autonomous driving, there’ll be big value in avoiding vehicles stopping deep in the mountains without a driver because of a burst tyre,” said Masaki Ota, manager of Bridgestone’s new mobility business development.
普利司通新移动业务开发经理Masaki Ota表示：“当我们最终实现自动驾驶时，避免车辆因爆胎而在没有司机的情况下停在深山中将具有巨大价值。”
Computer simulations have helped to create tyres with a spoke structure encased in a rubber tread, with the spokes able to bounce and bend at higher speeds and weights without becoming a drag on fuel consumption, a smooth ride and safety compared with previous airless tyres.
与以前的无气轮胎相比，计算机模拟帮助设计了将辐条结构包裹在橡胶胎面中的轮胎，从而使辐条能够在更高的速度和重量下反弹和弯曲，而不会对油耗、平稳驾驶和安全性造成拖累。
The tyres could mean lower maintenance costs and reduced liability risk from autonomous driving accidents caused by punctures.
这种轮胎可以降低维护成本，减少自动驾驶汽车因爆胎而引发事故的责任风险。
But experts fear the design, with production costs several times that of pumped tyres, could struggle to carve out a niche. Bridgestone has also inverted the usual logic of innovation, targeting low-performance vehicles for the mass market first, instead of testing the products in high-performance racing.
但专家们担心，这种轮胎的生产成本是充气轮胎的数倍，可能难以在市场上占据一席之地。普利司通还颠覆了通常的创新逻辑，首先瞄准大众市场的低性能汽车，而不是在高性能赛车中测试产品。
Replacing all pneumatic tyres with airless ones is “a utopia that will cost too much”, said Florent Menegaux, chief executive of Michelin. The company has worked on airless tyres for 20 years and had already put its own version, called Tweel, on smaller vehicles such as lawnmowers in the US.
米其林首席执行官弗洛朗•梅内戈(Florent Menegaux)表示，用无气轮胎替换所有充气轮胎是“一个代价过高的乌托邦”。该公司研究无气轮胎已有20年，并已在美国将其名为Tweel的无气轮胎应用于割草机等小型车辆。
“To go from a lawnmower to a car, to drive at 50km an hour, poses other problems,” he said. They include a whirring sound, the risk of stones flying out of the spokes and maintaining performance at high speeds and weights over time, said analysts.
“从割草机到汽车，以每小时50公里的速度行驶，会带来其他问题，”他说。分析人士指出，这些问题包括轮胎旋转的嗡鸣、石子从辐条中飞出的风险，以及随着时间的推移在高速和重载下长期保持性能。
Michelin has run trials of its puncture-proof, airless Uptis tyres on small vans for delivery groups DHL and La Poste, but the rubber and aluminium wheels remain in a prototype stage.
米其林已在DHL和法国邮政(La Poste)的小型货车上试用了其防刺穿的实心轮胎Uptis，但橡胶和铝制车轮仍处于原型阶段。
Menegaux said Michelin was “not ready from an industrial point of view” to take it further, despite the logistics groups being “very happy”.
梅内戈表示，尽管物流集团“非常满意”，但从工业角度来看，米其林“尚未做好进一步推进的准备”。
Bridgestone hopes to gauge customer willingness to pay for air-free tyres through demonstrations, such as a six-seater self-driving car in a mountainous area of the city of Higashiomi in which more than half the 309 residents are elderly.
普利司通希望通过演示来衡量客户购买无气轮胎的意愿，例如在东近米市山区的一辆六座自动驾驶汽车，该地区309名居民中有一半以上是老年人。
“We honestly haven’t yet reached a clear vision of how much this business will make and what sort of market it will be,” said Ota. “But we’re not waiting to find out.”
“老实说，我们对这项业务能赚多少钱以及会有什么样的市场没有清晰的认识。”Masaki Ota说，“但我们不会坐以待毙。”
The incentive for the major incumbent tyremakers is compelling. Their business model is under threat from cheaper Chinese and Indian competition as tyres have become commoditised, and they are losing about 5 per cent per year of their total volume, according to Tire Industry Research, a specialist consultancy.
对主要现有轮胎制造商来说，这样做的动机是很强烈的。专业咨询公司Tire Industry Research表示，随着轮胎商品化，他们的商业模式正受到中国和印度更便宜竞争的威胁，每年的总销量下降约5%。
Instead, tyre suppliers want to expand in services. Customers would return regularly to retread air-free tyres — expected to last 10 years versus three to five for pneumatic tyres.
相反，轮胎供应商希望扩大服务范围。客户会定期翻新无气轮胎，预计无气轮胎的使用寿命为10年，而充气轮胎的使用寿命为3至5年。
“I don’t know yet if they’re going to work in terms of delivering all the technical requirements of lifespan, fuel economy and price that the world needs,” said David Shaw, chief executive of Tire Industry Research.
“我还不知道它们是否能在寿命、燃油经济性和价格等技术要求方面满足世界的需求，”Tire Industry Research的首席执行官大卫•肖(David Shaw)说。
But success was more likely than not, he added, because “pneumatic tyres are a pain”.
但他补充说，成功的可能性更大，因为“充气轮胎很麻烦”。