Bridgestone tires set a new speed record for unmanned vehicles

Bridgestone has partnered with the Milan Polytechnic Institute, which on November 7, 2024, at the Piacenza-San Damiano airbase runway, set a new world record for serial cars equipped with an autopilot system.

The new record was set in thick fog conditions, when the Maserati MC20 Coupe, controlled by an artificial intelligence system developed by the AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Driving Autonomous) team from the Milan Polytechnic, accelerated to 285 km/h on tires from the Japanese manufacturer.

During the record-setting, Bridgestone's Potenza Sport Ultra-High Performance sports tires were used, and the company notes that they "played a key role in terms of providing the necessary stability, traction, and control over the car when driving at high speed without any human control".

It is also reported that the races, held with the support of the Italian National Center for Sustainable Mobility (MOST), made it possible to go beyond the usual road tests and evaluate the capabilities of the autopilot system at high speeds in controlled conditions. "The AIDA project, with fundamental support from Bridgestone, has reached a new level in the field of studying the safety of using unmanned vehicles, confirming the importance of this technology for the future of urban mobility," the tire manufacturer says.

Lorenzo Piccinotti, Marketing Director of Bridgestone's Southern Europe, Middle East, and Africa division, emphasized that the record was "a new important milestone in the process of developing technologies for future mobility, and we are proud to have contributed to achieving this result thanks to the characteristics of our UHP tires from the Potenza family".

"Collaboration with the Milan Polytechnic Institute confirms our commitment to creating safer and more environmentally friendly mobility by supporting young innovators," he concluded.