Airless tires look like the future for robotaxis, EVs, and more

Michelin built its name on tires that ride on a cushion of air. But the top tire-maker in the world sees the future as completely airless.

“We are convinced at Michelin that airless is the future technology that is necessary for many reasons,” Cyrille Roget, the company’s director of scientific and technical communications, said to Green Car Reports at a recent event that emphasized sustainability and EVs.

One of those reasons, he explained, is that globally about 20% of tires are taken out of service prematurely due to sidewall damage or a puncture. With around 1.6 billion tires annually reaching the end of their service life each year, that adds up to about 320 million tires annually “that potentially could have been saved by airless technology,” Roget said.

“It’s a technology that really is useful in our approach of sustainability, because it saves material and it saves time,” he explained. And with less material and less overall manufacturing time invested, it’s likely to wear a lower lifetime carbon footprint—an aspect that automakers are especially aware of with EVs.

Michelin Uptis airless tires

No flats, no blowouts, no pressure checks

Michelin’s prototype airless tire line, Uptis (Unique Puncture-proof Tire System), may have been conceived to have less impact on the environment, but as the name origin suggests it has other big advantages. Although the tires weigh slightly more than standard air-filled tires, vehicles don’t need to be equipped with spares, jacks, repair kits, or tire-pressure sensors. From a safety standpoint, it avoids flats and blowouts and assures consistency in ride and handling in a way that air-filled tires might not.

GM, Michelin Uptis airless tire prototype

As Michelin has outlined before, it thinks airless is a perfect fit for EVs and their greater curb weights, as well as autonomous vehicles, ride-hailing, or other technology or services that need to be up and running all the time.

At one point it looked like airless tires might be ready for the road surprisingly soon. In 2019, with the introduction of Uptis, Michelin and GM announced that the automaker would be testing it on the Chevy Bolt EV. GM was bullish on its Cruise