How is this for technological disruption? What is incredible is making your own industry obsolete.
At least, if successful, you are the one to control the entire market. This means putting competitors out of business.
The tire industry might not be the most exciting but it is highly lucrative. We all expect to buy tiers as they wear thin and age. What if, however, we never had to do that? Also, what if there were no holes to repair from nails or other road debris?
Sound like something out of Sci-Fi? It will be a reality starting in 2024.
We are on the verge of airless tires. This is going to completely revolutionize the transportation industry. It will also reduce waste as well as other environmental concerns.
The idea is to create a tire that cannot be punctured or will not suffer from premature life failure. This is something common as tired wear thing from improper tire pressure or balancing.
Michelin is now going to bring out a tire line, Uptis, seeks to be the Holy Grail of tires. The company has struck a deal with General Motors to start putting them on vehicles in 2024.
An article in New Atlas described the benefits:
The advantages are pretty clear: firstly, you can never be brought to a stop by a puncture or blowout – Michelin says about 200 million tires every year hit scrapyards early thanks to these. Secondly, you don't have to look after your tire pressures; that doesn't just save you time, it also eliminates all early wear caused by underinflation.
That is a very telling that 200 million tires end up in the landfill prematurely. It is a situation that will be alleviated by the implementation of Uptis. There is even a chance that the tires can be retread when they wear thin.
It is easy to see how, if this is proven successful, the entire tire industry is completely destroyed. Not only are all other manufacturers in jeopardy of having their market share completely erased but also all those service centers that sell tires.
Of course, this is how technological disruption usually works. Rarely does it only affect the most obvious companies.
It is also advantageous for the consumer. Consider how much people spend over their lives on tires. We typical spend at least a few hundred for a full set. If we do that a couple times on each vehicle we own, that adds up over time.
We also can consider how much municipalities and private companies spend. Consider all the tires that trucking companies and police departments go through. It is also the same for cabs as well as delivery firms.
All of this ends up being applied to the cost of things. While it might not be a major expense in other products, it does add up. Also, when we think of the total cost of ownership of a personal vehicle, tires might not be the biggest expense. Nevertheless, when we are hit with that bill, it is never fun.
Since Michelin is the one who is jumping ahead of all else, they could end up being one of the few who remains. Even if others can create the technology around the patents, this will likely shrink the industry a great deal. With each new vehicle produced, a set of tires is needed. That amounts to around 80 million vehicles a year as it stands now. However, if autonomous taxis start to become mainstream, that number could drop.
That means we might only see the need for one or two companies in the field.
If the timeline is correct, and the tires start to see production in 2024, we could see them becoming the standard by 2030. In this situation, we could see Michelin start to offer them to many vehicles out there. This would provide them with the opportunity to tap into the existing vehicle fleet, which is estimated to be around 2 billion globally.
This will give them a nice market for a number of years before the count started to dwindle. Certainly, the company would be making itself obsolete, at least with this segment of the business, yet it would be capturing revenues (and presume profits) while that happens.
The resources could then be used to fund other endeavors to keep the business viable on an ongoing basis.
If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and rehive.
gif by 
logo by 
