The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Air Maintenance Technology has been named one of "Time" magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year 2012.”
Each year, "Time" magazine’s technology editors list the year’s “most important innovations.” There are 25 inventions on this year’s list, which, in addition to Goodyear’s Air Maintenance Technology, includes NASA’s Z-1 space suit, the Tesla Model S electric car and indoor clouds.
Goodyear’s Air Maintenance Technology (AMT) will help ensure the optimum tire pressure is maintained and, as a result, could mean substantial savings at the fuel pump. All of its components, including the miniaturized pump, will be fully contained within the tire.
“As soon as the pressure in these Goodyear tires gets too low, they know it,” the "Time" editors wrote about Goodyear’s AMT. “An internal pressure regulator opens to allow air to flow into a pumping tube, and as the wheel turns, the flattened part helps squeeze air from the tube through an inlet valve into the tire.”
“This award recognizes the outstanding work of our engineers in Akron and Luxembourg, as well as our efforts to bring innovative new products to market," says Chief Technical Officer Jean-Claude Kihn.
“A tire that can maintain its own inflation is something drivers have wanted for many years. This is the kind of technological breakthrough that people will recognize.”
Goodyear’s Air Maintenance Technology is under development and not yet available for purchase.Time" joins two other consumer magazines in recognizing AMT. In October, "Popular Mechanics" named AMT a "2012 Breakthrough Award" winner. In December 2011, "Car & Driver" selected AMT as one of its 10 “most promising future technologies.”
A full list of the 2012 “Best Inventions of the Year” is available in the November 12 issue or online.
