Design Innovation
In order to achieve our vision, “Contribute to Advancement in Driving,” we are constantly refining our designs to include future-oriented dynamism and refinement.
Hankook Tire Design Innovation 2020
'Urban Reshaping'
Design Innovation is a project that plans future smart cities and new mobility jointly with leading design colleges of the world and proposes various types of tire-centered mobility.
In 2020, under the theme of "Urban Reshaping," we joined forces with the professors and students of the Department of Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati in the U.S. to achieve progress in realizing the concept of mobility as a life space, not a simple means of transportation, in a future environment reinforced with advanced technologies and automation infrastructure, e.g., environment-friendly autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI), thus fundamentally changing the modern city.
"The essence of mobility is in tires."
We proposed a movable modular platform, based on H.E.M. (Hankook Electric Mobility Technology), which is a technology branding of Hankook Tire & Technology, i.e. "HPS (Hankook Platform System)-Cell."
HPS-Cell is a tire-centered driving platform. Since it is modularized, it provides efficiency in movement, and aims to provide services that are optimized for the agent of movement by combining with pods for various purposes. We completed a scenario that clearly states that the tire is at the center of the role of the platform, assuming responsibility for movement and the new concept of mobility as living space.
Hankook Platform System(HPS)-Cell
HPS-Cell aims to guarantee safe movement in the city in any situation, and it will maximize the efficiency of the driving system. One platform comprising 2 wheels can be expanded to 8 wheels or 10 wheels, depending on the shape of the pod. The 2 general 4-wheel shaped sets will be the default configuration. This is the advantage of the modular type that responds to various types of electric energy-based forms of mobility consisting of pods.
The concept tire of HPS-Cell
The tire of the "HPS-Cell" is an airless tire to which the unit-cell-shaped structure has been applied to realize multiple levels of rigidity. It uses an advanced sensor technology to check the tire tread and the status of the road surface in real time. It also responds to risks due to wear. The variable wheel and optimized infrastructure automatically replace the tread pattern so that it fits the road surface, thus maximizing efficiency in maintenance.
Since only the worn-out part is separated and replaced, the replaceable tread contributes to improving the efficiency of resources. This realizes synergy with the semi-permanent airless structure and contributes to an environment-friendly infrastructure for the future city.
