ORLANDO, Fla. — Continental Tire the Americas has launched ContiConnect Live, a cloud-based digital tire-monitoring solution to allow fleets to monitor all their vehicles in real time.
ContiConnect Live is a further development of the ContiConnect digital tire-monitoring platform that debuted in North America in 2018 for fleets whose vehicles return to a central yard. The system works in concert with Continental tires equipped with the company's
ContiPressureCheck sensor. The sensors collect data from inside the tires and forward them to a telematics unit or Bluetooth dongle and driver app, which in turn transmits the data to the ContiConnect web portal in real time for viewing on a computer or mobile device, Conti said during a press conference at the 2023 Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) meeting in Orlando.
The information can be used for truck and trailer monitoring or stand-alone trailer monitoring.
Subscribe to Tire Business for more award-winning news and insight.
According to the TMC S.2 Tire and Wheel Study Group, properly inflated tires benefit from a 15% longer tread life, 20% longer casing life and 1% increase in fuel efficiency, Conti noted, and can reduce annual tire-related costs by $600 to $800 per vehicle. An emergency road service event can exceed $1,000 and result in up to four hours of downtime.
"At Continental we believe that in the B2B space, we are shifting to a digitalization model where connected products and services are the key to fleet efficiency and profitability," Shaun Uys, head of Continental U.S. Market Truck Tires Replacement, said.
"Our intelligent digital solutions are the future of tire management and allow us to partner with the fleet and the tire dealer to adapt to specific customer needs and not an 'off-the-shelf' product. This is exactly what fleets are seeking today."
Available starting in March for long-haul and regional applications and fleets that do not return to a central location frequently, this solution provides GPS asset tracking to improve fuel efficiency, extend tire life, reduce labor costs equated with manual tire inspections, detect missing/stolen tires and reduce tire failure, Conti said.
Conti also is planning to offer a battery-powered stand-alone trailer version of the system this coming fall to address fleets with "drop-and-hook" operations or for trailers in regional and long-haul applications that aren't mated with a specific tractor.
This solution will allow unhooked trailers to be real-time monitored 24/7 for up to a month with GPS location, mileage estimation, tire pressure and temperature data, Conti said. Tire issues can be addressed without waiting for the trailer to return to the depot. Stolen or missing tires can be detected when the sensors are read, and their location determined.
