Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone recently trialled Japan’s first puncture-proof airless tyres on a public road, The first use of its next-generation AirFree tyres debuted on a local electric bus that departed Toyama Station carrying local residents.
The tyres also use recyclable resin spokes to help reduce maintenance and improve efficiency.
The bus, named Boule BaaS, travels at less than 20 km/hour and can carry nine passengers.
Bridgestone said that the blue spokes of the tyre are designed for high visibility even in low light, which it believes will be a safety improvement over conventional tyres.
Yoshinori Iwabuchi, head of Bridgestone’s AirFree development division, said the company hopes to gather information from the trial and use it to roll out the technology over the next year.