Goodyear pioneers DrivePoint Heavy Duty for Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV)

Goodyear introduces DrivePoint Heavy Duty, a dedicated development for autonomous port applications. The innovative, easy to install tyre monitoring solution helps maintenance managers of automated guided vehicles (AGV) to improve preventive tyre maintenance and reduce vehicle downtime. By extending the tyre life, the advanced tyre monitoring solution also supports sustainability industry goals.

Ultra-large ships urge for more efficiency and automated port operations

Over the last decade, container ships have significantly grown in capacity, the latest generation of ultra-large ships can carry more than 20,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) halfway across the globe. Larger vessels mean more energy efficiency and lower CO2 emissions.

In 2020, the largest port of Europe, Port of Rotterdam, handled 8,436,240 incoming and outgoing containers or 436.8 million tonnes of goods. The exponential growth of goods arriving at European ports significantly impacts the daily port operations including increasing unloading times, complex planning processes, … requiring more digitalization and automation.

Vehicle movements within ports are extremely time critical as any disruption can have an immediate impact on the supply chain. Goodyear DrivePoint Heavy Duty is the first system to cater to the advanced AGV-segment, further enhancing efficiency and safety in the daily port operations.

DrivePoint Heavy Duty pioneered at Hutchison Ports ECT Rotterdam

The new automated tyre monitoring system of Goodyear is piloted at Hutchison Ports ECT Rotterdam (ECT), one of the leading and most advanced container terminal operators in Europe. Multiple Goodyear DrivePoint Heavy Duty’s are installed at the ECT Euromax and ECT Delta terminals. Operational within one of the world’s largest AGV port operations, the fully automated tyre monitoring system will monitor about 100 AGVs, supporting them to operate under optimal conditions. Based on the tyre data provided by the new system, vehicles can be serviced at the right moment and tyre service life can be further extended.

The Goodyear DrivePoint Heavy Duty system is an ideal complement to AGV operations as there’s no interruption of the automated process for tyre checking and it can support operations that run day and night.

Goodyear DrivePoint Heavy Duty - How it works?

Every time the vehicle passes through the port-based information receivers, it picks up readings from the system’s dedicated heavy duty on-valve tyre pressure sensors. The sensors are installed on the valves rather than inside the wheel and tyre unit. This means tyres don’t have to be demounted, further emphasising the ease of operations.

The data is uploaded to the Goodyear cloud. This gives maintenance managers and operators instant access and reporting through the Goodyear Fleet Manager app. If there is a low tyre pressure alert, the system highlights this immediately¹. This reduces the risk of unexpected downtime, most critical in fully automated port operations and allows targeted servicing and preventive maintenance of AGVs.