NOKIA, Finland-Nokian Tyres P.L.C. has named its intelligent tire technology concept ``RoadSnoop Safety System'' and established a subsidiary to handle commercializing the technology.
The new company, RoadSnoop Ltd., will handle product development, production and marketing of the microchip-based technology, which monitors tire pressure and temperature and relays the information continuously using ``Bluetooth'' mobile phone links.
In the future, RoadSnoop will be able to monitor tire wear and road friction level, Nokian said, along with providing new services based on tire data, cellular network positioning data and meteorological data. The Finnish firm said it is negotiating partnerships for these purposes with several tire, car and equipment makers, as well as Internet service providers.
The first commercial applications of the intelligent tire technology system will be implemented on truck and van tires as well as passenger tires with high-speed ratings, Nokian said. The tire company owns the rights to the product concept and has a patent for the system pending.
RoadSnoop's product development partner is Flextronics International Ltd. of San Jose, Calif.
Bluetooth technology is a wireless technology standard introduced in 1998 by Special Interest Group-Ericsson, IBM, Nokia, Intel and Toshiba. It uses short-range radio signals to connect devices such as cell phones, mobile computers and hand-held devices.