Bridgestone said the megatrends currently shaping or about to mould future society represent a "fantastic opportunity" for its business.
Speaking at this week's Mondial de l'Automobile show in Paris, Bridgestone EMEA CEO, Paulo Ferrari, outlined how the CASE trends of connected, autonomous, shared and electric would present new avenues for the supplier as it moves increasingly into the mobility sector.
"You have digital technology, big data, machine learning, ageing population [and] urbanisation," said Ferrari. "Cities are becoming bigger and bigger, in China even more [so]. The impact on quality of life and the environment – there is so much going on. We at Bridgestone think this is a fantastic opportunity.
"We have been talking about CASE for a while now; it is happening so, so fast. Most cars today are connected and in 2030 we see 100% being connected. Autonomous is picking up – you buy or rent a car and after a few miles the car takes over – it is happening really fast. [Also] The shared economy is one of the reasons the world will survive.
"[Around] 33% of kilometres will be driven by sharing or pooling [while] the European Commission is driving electrification around emissions; huge, huge opportunity for us. Maybe one of the most important things is Bridgestone is 90 years in the market and it is how we go about doing business. One of the most powerful elements is creative pioneering, not only in tyres, but in new mobility eco-systems.
"Tyres are very complex – we master that technology. We spend almost EUR800m on R&D each year, which is the number one in the industry. Our main customers will be the OEM players and CASE vehicles. We go way beyond tyres and we are going to be leaders in mobility solutions. We were very careful about sharing information [before], but today's world is about sharing innovation [and] we want to access the competence of mobility companies."
Ferrari made his comments as the tyre supplier announced several innovations in Paris, including its DriveGuard run-flat technology on main product lines, a My Speedy predictive maintenance solution and Mobox, its monthly subscription for premium tyres and vehicle services.
"The development of run-flat technology is hugely important to Bridgestone," added Ferrari. "We were the first to bring it consumers over 30 years ago and have continued to be at the forefront of the technology ever since.
"You never know what can go wrong on the roads, but our run-flat tyres give drivers peace of mind. This is essential to drivers and will become even more important in the future with autonomous cars.
"By increasing the availability of this technology and its benefits to more drivers, means we can continue to keep everyone going, no matter what."
