Kumho Tire announced that it has formed a partnership with UK-based driving simulator specialist Ansible Motion to develop next-generation digital tyres.
Through this collaboration, both companies plan to advance tyre performance verification systems by utilising cutting-edge digital simulation technology. This is particularly expected to strengthen competitiveness in developing tyres for electric vehicles and high-performance vehicles.
Ansible Motion is a global specialist company that possesses driving simulator technology capable of precisely replicating actual road driving environments. The company provides solutions that can verify various driving characteristics such as vehicle dynamics, driving safety, and ride comfort in virtual environments.
Kumho Tire expects that by introducing Ansible Motion’s latest driving simulator into its research and development, it will be able to reduce the time and costs involved in actual vehicle testing and prototype production, while enabling more precise and efficient performance verification from the early stages of development. Through this, the strategy is to respond swiftly to the rapidly changing mobility environment and further strengthen digital-based research and development capabilities.
Kim Young-jin, Executive Vice President of Kumho Tire’s Research and Development Division, said, “We will actively utilise advanced simulation technology to introduce high-performance, high-value-added products optimised for future mobility environments and continue to strengthen our global market competitiveness.”
The Ansible Motion Delta S3 Spin DIL simulator precisely replicates road driving environments, providing solutions that allow various driving characteristics such as vehicle dynamics, driving safety, and ride comfort to be tested in a virtual environment.
At the heart of the Delta S3 Spin is Ansible Motion’s patented six-degree-of-freedom Stratiform motion system with infinite yaw capability that is paired with a 360-degree wrap-around projection display and interchangeable vehicle cabins to create a fully immersive, lab-based environment.The Delta S3 Spin provides 1:1 cueing in many combined lateral and yaw situations, as well as superimposed road disturbances, and integration with all leading tyre modelling packages. The Delta S3 Spin’s open software architecture and scalable 5×5-metre ground plane excursion base makes it adaptable for future upgrades and integrations with external systems such as Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) rigs and advanced vehicle or subsystem models. This ensures the investment continues to deliver long-term value as tire testing needs evolve.
Dan Clark, Managing Director of Ansible Motion, adds: Tyre development has entered a new phase where virtual testing complements and accelerates physical evaluation. Our Delta S3 Spin DIL simulator will enable Kumho Tire to investigate solutions for the next generation of tyres in an environment that enables its engineers to be engineers, without the time and costs associated with traditional prototyping rounds.
