Hankook Tire announced a pilot engagement with Revvo Technologie and Junk King, an eco-friendly junk removal and hauling company. The pilot program will integrate Hankook’s SmartFlex tires with Revvo’s tire technology and advanced data analytics to provide critical tire-specific data for 30% of Junk King’s vehicles located in California.

Junk King has a large fleet of vehicles across the United States and Canada that require high levels of safety, vehicle uptime, and operational efficiency. Understanding that tires play a key role in meeting those requirements, Hankook Tire is researching innovative ways to improve its truck and bus tire products. The pilot program will feature SmartFlex tires, Hankook’s TBR line of hybrid segment multi-purpose tires, designed for fuel efficiency and traction.

“Ensuring our trucks stay in pristine shape is critical for our operations. It is the key to providing the top-notch customer service we promise to each and every one of our customers,” said Michael Andreacchi, CEO and co-founder of Junk King. “We’re excited to be at the forefront of this intelligent tire pilot program; having access to the tire data for our trucks is going to help us continue to standout in the junk removal industry.”

While telematics and fleet management software are already in use in many of today’s fleets, tires are where fleet managers traditionally have not had visibility. Revvo's technology can help fill in this gap, according to an announcement from Hankook. Revvo’s advanced tire sensing platform embeds a proprietary sensor inside each tire and captures real-time tire data. That data is processed and turned into actionable insights, including predicted tread life, abnormal tire behavior, optimal tire maintenance intervals and settings, and real-time alerts.

If the pilot goes well, it's possible this could become more widely available commercially.

When asked about the potential application for heavy-duty trucks, a Hankook spokesperson responded, "We do not have specific plans at the moment, but if there are requests/needs, application for Class 8 is possible, as we intend to expand on this project."

“As we continue to advance our product innovation and technology, this is the next logical step to provide real-time data to fleets, which will be accomplished by working closely with our dealer network as these digital solutions continue to evolve," said Rob Williams, VP of Truck and Bus Radial Sales at Hankook.

Revvo’s CEO Sunjay Dodani adds “Helping keep operators safe on the road is one of our main goals. We are excited to partner with Hankook to give a fleet like Junk King the visibility into the usage of their tires. Seeing it help prevent major incidents gives us confidence in our shared vision of smart, connected tires for every vehicle on the road.”