"Accelerating Product Development Speed"… Kumho Tire Pushes Digital Transformation with Big Data and AI

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Kumho Tire is accelerating the establishment of a 'digital twin' environment that integrates big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the tire development process.

On the 5th, Kumho Tire announced that through joint research with Hyosung Information Systems, it has recently developed the VCS (Virtual Compound Simulation) system, which predicts rubber properties during tire compound design using big data and AI technology, and the VTS (Virtual Tire Simulation) system, which predicts tire driving performance.

The VCS system enables the prediction of the performance of new compounds by learning from accumulated test-based big data using AI. Generally, the development of tire compounds involves mixing raw materials and vulcanizing them to develop rubber that meets tire requirements such as energy loss, friction, and wear, which results in a long development period and high costs. However, Kumho Tire explained that by applying the VCS system, the number of tests can be significantly reduced through simulation, potentially shortening the tire compound development period by about 50%.

Additionally, the VTS system predicts tire performance through machine learning algorithms based on tire design factors and test result-based big data, which is expected to reduce the existing development period by up to approximately 50%.

Ki-woon Kim, Executive Director in charge of Characteristics Research at Kumho Tire, said, "To proactively respond to the rapidly changing mobility industry environment, Kumho Tire has consolidated IT and digital capabilities to establish a 'tire digital twin' system environment, maximizing development efficiency by shortening product development time and reducing costs, thereby securing technological competitiveness." He added, "Going forward, Kumho Tire plans to further focus on developing technology-intensive products that reflect consumer needs based on a future-oriented advanced development environment."