Tires, heal thyself

That’s right – we now have self-healing tires that are inspired by the humble onion, renewing itself once the old tread has worn out. Michelin developed such technology by utilizing manufacturing techniques which mold the tread of its XDA5 in three dimensions, which means the tread actually regenerates itself as it wears out. Sounds pretty much like an onion, revealing a new layer after the old one is peeled away. Unfortunately, the law of entropy dictates that these new treads won’t last forever – but they’ll add another 30% to tread life when compared to standard tires. How much will these puppies cost? Hopefully cheaper than getting normal tires in the long run, as it then wouldn’t make any sense economically.