The Tire Reimagined: How AI is Making Automotive Hardware Obsolete

CLERMONT-FERRAND, France & SUNNYVALE, Calif. – December 19, 2025

The humble tire, the vehicle’s sole point of contact with the road, is undergoing a profound digital transformation. In a move poised to redefine vehicle maintenance and safety, tire manufacturer Michelin and software-defined vehicle specialist Sonatus have announced they will demonstrate a ready-to-deploy digital twin for tires at CES 2026. This collaboration leverages sophisticated software to predict tire health in real-time, signaling a major shift away from traditional hardware-based monitoring and towards a more intelligent, software-centric automotive future.

At the heart of the demonstration are Michelin’s proprietary SmartLoad and SmartWear technologies. Deployed on Sonatus’s in-vehicle AI platform, these solutions move far beyond the familiar tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) that have been standard for years. Instead of relying on direct sensor readings for pressure and temperature, Michelin's models analyze a constant stream of high-frequency data already flowing through the vehicle’s network—signals related to braking intensity, vehicle load, cornering forces, and other dynamic conditions that directly impact tire wear and performance.

This marks a pivotal evolution from reactive alerts to proactive, predictive intelligence, effectively creating a virtual sensor that lives within the car's software ecosystem.

The Virtual Revolution: Software Over Sensors

The partnership between Michelin and Sonatus exemplifies a powerful trend in the automotive industry: the virtualization of physical components. By creating a software-based “digital twin” of the tire, the system can continuously and accurately model its condition without needing a dedicated physical sensor for every metric. This approach not only provides a richer, more nuanced understanding of tire health but also carries significant economic implications.

The industry analyst firm Frost & Sullivan estimates that virtualizing vehicle sensors could lead to industry-wide cost savings of $1.68 billion by 2030. By reducing the bill of materials (BOM), eliminating the need for sensor hardware, wiring, and associated maintenance, automakers can lower production costs while simultaneously offering more advanced features. The demonstration at CES, which will feature a 1970 Ford Bronco retrofitted with the new technology, aims to prove this concept's real-world viability.

“Our demonstrations at CES 2026 showcase how software-defined vehicle platforms can operationalize advanced partner solutions,” said Alexandre Corjon, senior vice president of engineering at Sonatus. “By showcasing Michelin’s SmartLoad and SmartWear through Sonatus Collector AI and Sonatus AI Director, we are illustrating how predictive tire maintenance can be integrated into the vehicle environment.”

The underlying architecture is key. Sonatus Collector AI allows Michelin to gather the precise data needed to calibrate its algorithms for different vehicle models, while Sonatus AI Director provides a secure, containerized environment for these algorithms to run directly on various in-vehicle Electronic Control Units (ECUs). This “edge computing” approach processes data within the vehicle itself, reducing the need to send sensitive information to the cloud, which enhances data privacy and ensures real-time responsiveness.

Beyond the Tread: A New Era for Safety and Sustainability

The immediate benefits of this technology extend directly to drivers and fleet operators, promising substantial improvements in safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Current TPMS systems typically only alert a driver when pressure is already critically low. In contrast, Michelin’s predictive models can forecast issues long before they become dangerous, allowing for preventative maintenance that avoids catastrophic failures on the road.

For commercial fleets, the value proposition is even more compelling. Unplanned downtime due to tire issues is a major source of lost revenue. By providing precise insights into wear patterns and predicting end-of-life, the SmartLoad and SmartWear systems enable fleet managers to optimize tire rotation and replacement schedules, maximizing the lifespan of every tire and keeping vehicles in service. This leads to lower operational costs, improved fuel efficiency from properly maintained tires, and enhanced driver safety.

This focus on extending tire life also aligns with broader sustainability goals. By maximizing the usable life of tires, the system helps reduce the waste and environmental impact associated with premature replacement. This initiative is a core component of Michelin’s strategy to innovate beyond tire manufacturing and become a leader in sustainable mobility.

“Michelin SmartLoad and SmartWear showcase how our expertise in tire physics and modelling turns complex data into clear, predictive insights,” stated Michelin Vice President of Michelin Tire Digital Twin, Ali Rezgui. He added that the solutions “help automakers and fleets extend tire life, improve safety, reduce costs, and support sustainable mobility.” Rezgui noted that these are the “first building blocks of a full portfolio that will enable the OEMs to have Tire Digital Twin in their vehicles.”

A Blueprint for Innovation in a Competitive Landscape

The collaboration between a 130-year-old materials science expert and a nimble Silicon Valley software firm serves as a powerful blueprint for innovation in the automotive sector. While competitors like Pirelli with its sensor-embedded Cyber Tyre and Continental with its ContiConnect fleet platform have made significant strides in smart tire technology, the Michelin-Sonatus approach is distinguished by its deep commitment to software-based virtualization.

Where many competing systems rely on enhancing physical sensors, Michelin is leveraging its deep knowledge of tire physics to create algorithms that can infer tire health from existing vehicle dynamics data. Sonatus provides the crucial software orchestration layer that makes this possible at scale, securely, and across different automakers’ hardware.

However, the path to widespread OEM adoption is not without its challenges. Automakers are grappling with the complexities of transitioning from legacy hardware-centric vehicle architectures to flexible, software-defined platforms. Integrating third-party software requires overcoming hurdles related to cybersecurity, fragmented development processes, and the need to decouple software from specific hardware. Sonatus's platform, already deployed in over 6 million vehicles, is designed to address these pain points by offering a scalable, secure, and hardware-agnostic foundation for new services.

The upcoming CES demonstration, where insights will be displayed on Michelin’s MyTires application, is designed to show automakers and fleet managers a clear, tangible view of how this complex data is transformed into simple, actionable intelligence. As the industry continues its march toward the fully connected, software-defined vehicle, this partnership provides a compelling glimpse into a future where a car's most critical components are monitored not just by sensors, but by intelligent software that makes every journey safer and more efficient.