Bridgestone, a global leader in premium tyres and sustainable mobility solutions, has revealed plans to invest in a new driver-in-the-loop (DiL) simulator at its EMEA R&D Centre, which is located close to Rome, Italy. The company's dedication to completely digitising the tyre development process is demonstrated by the new, cutting-edge DiL simulator, which enhances its Virtual tire Development (VTD) capabilities.
The launch of a Bridgestone-owned DiL simulator enables Bridgestone engineers to replicate tyre behaviour, vehicle interaction and reaction in a variety of scenarios, all while including professional test drivers' subjective feedback. This combination, with the aid of AI technologies, facilitates the virtual trial of novel and creative design concepts and the quicker evaluation of a greater number of design possibilities, speeding up the process of reaching target tyre performance. In addition to improving speed to market and development process efficiency, the new DiL simulator will assist Bridgestone in fostering innovation and venturing into unexplored territories. Additionally, the investment supports the company's partnership with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and its development of high-quality original equipment (OE) and replacement goods. This is made possible by these new capabilities, which allow for the rapid joint iterations necessary to develop tyres and automobiles in simultaneously.
Additionally, on-premises DiL simulation will hasten the business's transition to sustainability. Bridgestone estimates that this expenditure will save up to 12,000 experimental tyres annually by lowering the amount of both produced tyres and physical tyre testing, which will result in a considerable decrease in CO2 emissions. The company's in-house VTD technology already reduces CO2 emissions and raw material use during the OE tyre development phase by up to 60 percent. The savings on replacement tyres are at least 25 percent.
Leveraging data-driven predictors and physics-based simulations, Bridgestone VTD capabilities are being applied to all products. This covers the company's next-generation goods in addition to premium and luxury OE advancements. A brand-new, cutting-edge dynamic driving simulator from VI-grade is being financed by the investment. The business anticipates that the DiL technique will be used for up to 50 percent of OE innovations each year with this simulator, which should be completely operational by the end of 2025. Although Bridgestone presently primarily uses the DiL technique to evaluate dry handling, the business is striving to broaden the range of tyre performance areas it can evaluate as well as the market sectors it may be used to.
Emilio Tiberio, Chief Technology Officer Bridgestone West, said, “This investment in our internal DiL simulation capabilities is a major milestone as we build a comprehensive ecosystem for accurately predicting tyre performance in the virtual world. It also gives us the capabilities to experiment with new and innovative combinations of designs and materials in a fully virtual environment. Bridgestone is a leading investor in R&D in the industry, with more than EUR 800 million invested annually across the globe. This next step is a testimonial to our Bridgestone E8 Commitment. As a sustainable solutions company, we continue to innovate while reducing our time to market. At the same time, we are improving joint development processes with OEMs and enhancing the sustainability of our R&D activities.”
