Goodyear is developing airless tires.

Goodyear is developing an airless tire, but it is unclear when it will be ready for installation on cars.

The company recently announced that a prototype tire has completed 75,000 miles of testing at speeds up to 100 mph in temperatures ranging from scorching hot to snowy. Some of this testing was done at Goodyear's Luxembourg proving ground with the Tesla Model 3, the company said in a statement.

Airless tires, also known as non-pneumatic tires (NPTs), require less maintenance than conventional tires and can handle higher loads, according to Goodyear.

The company also believes that airless tires are more suitable for vehicles other than passenger cars, specifically autonomous shuttles that may be used by future mobility services to move people and goods in urban centers. As part of the development process, the airless tires will be tested on "autonomous vehicles and last-mile delivery robots," Goodyear said.

Goodyear said it is working toward U.S. Department of Transportation approval for airless tires, but that this is "still a few years away. And given the company's interest in mobility services, the first applications may not be in private vehicles. [Other major tire manufacturers have also expressed interest in airless tires. Bridgestone presented a concept for a puncture-resistant airless tire in 2011, and in 2019 Michelin announced that it would begin supplying airless tires for General Motors vehicles as early as 2024.

Hankook showed its own airless tire concept as early as 2013 and said in 2015 that airless tires were approaching production reality. However, we have not heard much about the project since then.

The airless tire did make it to production, but not for automobiles. Polaris began offering them as an option on ATVs in 2013.