Hana Technologies, Inc. (Hana RFID), a global leader in the design and manufacturing of embeddable RFID tyre tags, has become the first RFID company to join the Circular Rubber Platform. This development aligns with Hana RFID’s mission to drive innovation in tyre traceability and reinforces the company’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and circularity in the tyre and rubber industry.

Hana RFID has been at the forefront of RFID-enabled tyre traceability since 2005, facilitating smooth tracking from cradle to grave and promoting circularity. Hana's RFID tyre tags, which are embedded during manufacturing, provide each tyre a distinct digital identity, facilitating complete lifetime tracking from manufacture and use to recycling and reuse. Hana hopes to promote RFID usage in sustainable tyre lifecycle management by working with leading companies in the sector, which will eventually save waste and increase resource efficiency.

Using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, an RFID tyre tag is a tiny, embedded device that tracks, monitors and controls tyres. In addition to providing smooth connection with inventory monitoring, fleet management systems and other digital applications, such as the European Digital Product Passport (DPP), these tags produce digital twins of tyres. Hana's RFID solutions empower the whole tyre ecosystem to expedite fleet management, improve inventory control, optimize maintenance, and create creative business models that increase sustainability and efficiency.

Val Peters, VP – Marketing, Hana RFID, said, “We are excited to join the Circular Rubber Platform as the first RFID company in this initiative. RFID technology is essential for advancing a circular economy in tyre manufacturing, and we look forward to collaborating with partners across the rubber sector to drive sustainability on a broader scale.”

Enrico Koggel, Co-Founder, Circular Rubber Platform, said, “RFID technology is key to enabling a circular rubber economy. RFID enables seamless tracking from production to end-of-life recycling by connecting material and production data into each rubber product. It provides traceability and easy identification and allows for smart sorting of materials and efficient recycling to ensure responsible reuse, remanufacturing, recycling and waste reduction. We are therefore very happy to announce Hana as a new member of the Circular Rubber Platform, with the technology and experience they can provide to the platform. We look forward to sharing knowledge on RFID and working out opportunities for this technology in rubber industries that require Digital Product Passports in the near future, such as footwear.”

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Yokohama Rubber has established a new research and development centre in Hangzhou, China, as the Japanese tyre maker seeks to strengthen localised product development and speed up response times in the Chinese market.

The new facility, named Yokohama China Technical Center, began operations in May within the company’s new passenger car tyre plant in Hangzhou, which started production in November 2025.

The company said the centre would enable the local development of products specifically for the Chinese market, from initial research through to completion, helping to accelerate product launches and improve responsiveness to regional demand.

The centre will consolidate R&D functions for Yokohama Rubber’s tyre and multiple business divisions in China, while expanding engineering staff and testing facilities. Its activities will include tyre development, raw material analysis and evaluation, supplier audits, and mould drawing preparation.

Yokohama Rubber said the new operation would also support research into new raw materials and the development of local suppliers in China.

The company currently operates tyre plants in Hangzhou and Suzhou, alongside multiple business plants in Hangzhou and Weifang.

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Chhattisgarh-based technology company Aarika Innovation has introduced KoolWheel, an automated tyre water spray cooling system manufactured in India.

The product is designed for freight vehicles and school buses to manage tyre overheating caused by road surface temperatures.

The system uses IR (infrared) temperature sensors, a 5-bar pump and solenoid valves to spray a mist on tyres when temperatures exceed a threshold. The hardware operates on a 12V setup and includes a controller that requires no driver intervention. Dashboard indicators and buzzers provide alerts regarding system status and temperature levels.

The company has introduced two variants of the product for KoolWheel Freight, which is designed for trucks, trailers and multi-axle vehicles, covering up to 22 tyres across six axles. And KoolWheel SchoolSafe, which is developed for school buses and coaches, featuring a 50-litre stainless steel tank and an automatic shutoff to prevent battery drain.

The company states the system can reduce tyre temperatures by up to 25deg Celsius and extend tyre life by up to 35 percent. The technology is intended to reduce the risk of blowouts and maintenance costs for fleet operators. The product is currently available in markets including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.

Swayam Agarwal, Founder, Aarika Innovation, said, “KoolWheel has been created to solve a very real problem faced by Indian transporters and school bus operators every day. Tyre overheating is not just a maintenance issue; it directly impacts road safety, operating costs, and fleet reliability. With KoolWheel, our aim is to offer an affordable, intelligent, and Made-in-India solution that helps fleets run safer, longer, and more efficiently.”

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European tyre major Pirelli is starting production of its Cyber Tyre technology at its plant in Georgia. The facility produces tyres for the US market, including products for the motorsport segment.

The announcement occurred during the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Cyber Tyre is a system that collects data from sensors embedded in tyres. This data is processed through software and algorithms to communicate with vehicle electronics. The system is intended to integrate with driving systems to provide functionalities for mobility and safety.

Pirelli is also introducing the Modular Integrated Robotised System (MIRS) at the factory. This manufacturing process uses robots to manage productivity and quality. The system creates a link between product design and application. This update is intended to increase the production capacity of the site.

The Georgia plant has operated for over two decades and includes a research and development centre. The facility uses natural rubber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Claudio Zanardo, CEO of Pirelli North America, said, “The start of Cyber Tyre production in our Rome, Georgia plant is a significant milestone for Pirelli in this country. It reflects our commitment to bringing advanced technologies like Cyber Tyre closer to the market, further strengthening our industrial footprint and innovation capabilities in the United States.”

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The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. developed a proprietary tyre mould design support system in April 2026, integrating finite element method (FEM) simulations and the company’s own artificial intelligence technology. This new tool is designed to augment the expertise of development personnel, enabling even less experienced staff to efficiently design moulds. It achieves this by providing data derived from numerous virtual experiments, which clarify how different mould design factors influence tyre characteristics.

The system accelerates mould development, lowers costs and minimises the rework typically associated with realising new designs. Furthermore, by fostering a multi-perspective understanding of the links between mould design elements and tyre performance, the tool equips Yokohama Rubber’s developers with fresh insights. These discoveries are expected to aid in creating tyres capable of achieving higher performance levels.

Developed under Yokohama Rubber’s HAICoLab AI concept launched in October 2020, the system addresses longstanding challenges. Mould design critically affects tyre traits, but traditionally understanding this relationship required expensive, time-consuming trial production and evaluations. The process also depended heavily on the tacit know-how of highly experienced staff, leading to variations in accuracy and development time based on individual expertise.

The support system resolves these issues through automated simulations and AI-based prediction and visualisation. It first generates numerous tyre FEM models with varied mould shapes and calculates their characteristics in a virtual space. These results train an AI surrogate model that instantly predicts design factor-performance relationships. By applying explainable AI technologies like SHAP and Partial Dependence Plots, the company’s developers can quantitatively visualise each factor’s impact, easily determining necessary adjustments to achieve targeted tyre characteristics.

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