Bridgestone made a minority investment in May Mobility, marking the company’s first investment in public-serving autonomous vehicles (AVs). The new partnership will include the future integration of Bridgestone’s digital and predictive tire-centric technologies into May Mobility autonomous vehicles. Through the partnership, Bridgestone says it will also gain insights into autonomous vehicle operations to improve its core tire products and mobility solutions.

Bridgestone says May Mobility vehicles will utilize insights derived from in-wheel sensors and proprietary Bridgestone predictive algorithms to monitor the health of tires, including tire pressure, temperature and tread wear — which will allow for proactive and predictive maintenance that helps improve fleet safety, efficiency and sustainability. Azuga, a cloud-based fleet mobility solution acquired by Bridgestone in 2021, will also be leveraged by May Mobility to improve business performance through the platform’s fleet management, camera intelligence and route planning features.