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Agenda

View what the 2026 conference has in store below.

Please note: Anything marked with an * is subject to change

Conference Day One: Wednesday, May 20 Conference Day Two: Thursday, May 21
Registration Opens
Opening Remarks
Session I: Market Trends and Forecasts
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
This session will provide an update on the tire and automotive industries. Presentations will highlight tire industry efforts toward sustainability and discuss barriers that exist. 
Industry Outlook - Exploring Major Market Trends*
Consumer Trends Update*
Global Industry Outlook and Tariff Updates*
AM Networking Break
Session II: Innovation Hour
WHAT YOU'LL EXPERIENCE
Speakers will “pitch” their technology, new innovations and interesting opportunities for the tire industry
AI Software Startup*
Airless Tires Demo*
Blockchain, Tire Lifecycle and Regulatory Compliance*
Tire Maintenance and Digital Tracking*
Q&A With Presenters
Networking Lunch
Content resumes at 1:30 PM
Session III: Artificial Intelligence
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Speakers in this session will address how AI is used to predict performance, collect data for quality control and improve compound design
Goodyear SightLine: The Next Frontier in Tire Intelligence
As vehicles become increasingly software-defined and safety-critical functions demand higher environmental awareness, tire intelligence is emerging as a key enabler of next-generation mobility. Goodyear SightLine represents a step-change in this evolution, transforming the tire into a real-time sensing platform capable of delivering critical insights such as road friction, tire load, wear, and aquaplaning risk.

By combining physics-based modeling, embedded algorithms, and tire-mounted sensing technologies, SightLine bridges the gap between tire-road interaction and vehicle control systems. This enables earlier, more accurate decision-making for ADAS and automated driving functions—especially under low-excitation or adverse conditions where traditional approaches fall short.

This presentation explores the technical foundations, validation learnings, and deployment pathways of SightLine, highlighting its role in enhancing safety, performance, and operational efficiency for OEMs and fleets. It also outlines how tire intelligence will play a central role in shaping future vehicle architectures and safety standards.
 
Kanwar Bharat Singh | Head of Algorithms and Sensing Technology, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
An advanced AI powered technology system designed to recognize and sort tires for future use
Effective tire sorting, based on accurate identification and categorization of used tires, is essential to improving downstream process efficiency and final product quality. Moving from manual to automated sorting represents a key opportunity for the industry. REGOM develops advanced automated solutions for the identification and sorting of used tires. Founded by TC-Transports, one of France’s largest transportation groups, REGOM was initially created to optimize the performance of its own tire collection and sorting operations, which handle approximately 40,000 tons of tires per year. At the core of REGOM’s technology is the MTP machine, capable of identifying tire characteristics—including brand, model, dimensions, remaining tread and wear, DOT, speed rating, and load index—at an industrial throughput of up to three tires per second. Complementing the MTP, REGOM also supplies automated conveying, alignment, and debulking systems upstream, as well as post-sorting separation solutions tailored to customer requirements. Originally developed in response to labor shortages, REGOM’s solutions now address broader market needs by improving production flow quality and enabling full traceability through data. With 12 machines successfully deployed across Europe and 3 in the United States, REGOM supports a wide range of use cases for tire recyclers and recycling applications.
 
Arthur Wagner | CEO, Regom
Session IV: Sustainability
Advancing Sustainable Tire Wear Testing and Particle Management
Predicting tire wear performance on the road within a laboratory environment is crucial for developing tread compounds. The present presentation introduces two approaches to address these challenges. Firstly, a novel dynamic abrasion test is proposed, which significantly reduces test time (by at least 12 times) while demonstrating excellent agreement with the well-established Grosch test matrix, in accordance with the ISO 23233 standard. Secondly, VMI is exploring a laboratory-based method for collecting and detecting rubber wear particles using the LAT100, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of tire and road wear particles (TRWP). Our work aims to support the development of more efficient and sustainable tire wear testing methods, and to contribute to a better understanding and sustainable management of tire and road wear particles (TRWP).
 
Marzieh Salehi | R&D Manager, VMI Holland BV
PM Networking Break
California's Tire Efficiency Program
Ken Rider | Senior Advisor to Chair Hochschild, California Energy Commission
Session V: Logistics/Transportation
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
This session will detail how shipping and logistics companies are managing supply and demand challenges and tariff pressures
Ports and Shipments*
Travis Frank | Business Development, South Carolina Ports Authority
Session VI: The Last Mile
Last Mile Fleets*
Retreading at the Center of Tire Circularity - Driving Sustainability and Fleet Value Across the Supply Chain
As the tire industry accelerates toward circular economy and net-zero goals, retreading stands out as one of the most immediate, scalable solutions for reducing environmental impact while delivering strong economic returns. This presentation will explore how tire retreading extends product life cycles, conserves raw materials, lowers carbon emissions, and reduces landfill waste—making it a cornerstone of sustainable tire management.

Drawing on industry data and real-world fleet experience, the session will quantify the environmental benefits of retreading and connect them directly to total cost of ownership improvements for commercial fleets. Attendees will gain insight into how retreading supports OEM sustainability strategies, strengthens supply chain resilience, and delivers measurable ROI through improved mileage retention and asset utilization.

By aligning sustainability performance with business outcomes, this presentation will demonstrate why retreading is not only an environmental imperative, but also a smart operational strategy for fleets and tire stakeholders across the value chain.
 
David Stevens | Managing Director, Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB)
Evening Networking Reception
Morning Refreshments
Opening Remarks
Session VII: Insights From the Track
Opening Keynote: NASCAR
Eric Jacuzzi | Vice President, Vehicle Performance, NASCAR
Presentation title to come
Presentation title to come
Session VIII: Alternative Materials and Automotive Applications 
PCR Applications*
Replacing carbon black and other fossil-based components with microfibrillated cellulose – a novel premix material for the tire industry
Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) is a plant derived natural reinforcement material that has been widely used in paper&board industry during the last decade. For tire applications, the material has been difficult to apply due to miscibility issues of the hydrophilic cellulose fibrils and the hydrophobic rubber matrix. A novel approach, where wet compounding process has been utilized to form a premix product of natural rubber and MFC shows exceptionally promising results while maintaining easy usability in the tire manufacturing processes. The presentation shows the technical performance of the novel premix material in various tire applications and highlights future prospects of the new technology.
 
Ilkka Lehtoranta | Head of Tire & Material Development, Black Donuts inc.
Expanding the tire performance boundaries with specialty PVC as a new class of functional fillers
Vestolit is excited about a new novel approach for utilizing PVC into tire compounds. PVC technology can be used to improve traction performance of the tread compound while maintaining tread rolling resistance potential, or it can be utilized to reduce tread rolling resistance potential while maintaining tread traction performance.

Specialty PVC grades improve the dispersion of the fillers in highly silica loaded tire tread formulations and thus reduce the rolling resistance indicators by more than 10%. Snow traction indicators are even increased by more than 50%. Processibility, especially scorch resistance, is impacted positively.

Specialty PVC grades can improve the traction properties greater than 15% while maintaining rolling resistance indicators. The improvement in traction properties can be significant on the track based on the level of improvement.

Introducing Specialty PVC grades, also available as bio-based, as functional fillers reduces the carbon footprint of the tire tread formulation and thus not only serves sustainability targets by reduced rolling resistance but also during tire manufacturing.

The benefits of this patented technology are illustrated by DMA data in the Michelin green tire formulation along with other physical property testing of tread compound.
 
Frank Bowers | Sr. Lab and Tech Service Technician, Vestolit
Networking Lunch
Content resumes at 1:15 PM
Session IX: Smart Tires
WHAT YOU'll LEARN
This session will review embedded sensors and RFID tags which provide real-time data on tire conditions for vehicles and to track inventory in the factory
From Tires to Tire Systems: Enabling Sustainable Innovation for SDVs and CASES Mobility Through Smart Sensors and SimulationFirst Engineering
The rapid emergence of SoftwareDefined Vehicles (SDVs) and the broader CASES mobility paradigm (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric, and Sustainable) demands a fundamental rethinking of tire innovation. In this evolving ecosystem, tires can no longer remain isolated mechanical components; they must become smart, datarich, software-enabled, and power-management-integrated subsystems, capable of providing continuous insight into performance, safety, traceability, and sustainability metrics. Achieving this transformation is challenging because today’s tire R&D processes are still deeply anchored in legacy CAE tools and workflows designed 30–40 years ago, long before sensorized tires, digital product passports, sustainability regulations, and SDV architectures existed. These outdated methods cannot adequately support integrated tireandsensor systems, realtime data pipelines, or systemlevel validation across the full vehicle stack. To address this industrywide gap, DigiTire ToolKit introduces a new systemlevel simulation paradigm tailored for the next generation of smart tires. Its proprietary preprocessor, Generator4, automates complex model creation, while Animator4 enables bigdata analysis from virtual tests, sensor signals, and predictive performance scenarios. Together, they allow engineers to treat the tire, its embedded/attached sensors, and the resulting data streams as one unified smart tire system. This simulationfirst framework empowers OEMs, Tire 1 and 2 Suppliers, and software stakeholders to: - Reduce physical prototypes and development waste; - Enable tire wear dynamics analysis; - EVspecific performance check; - Enable traceability and circularity through sensorsupported digital workflows; - Accelerate readiness for SDV and CASES mobility ecosystems. By elevating tires into intelligent, softwareintegrated systems, DigiTire ToolKit supports the global shift toward cleaner, smarter, and more sustainable mobility.
 
Dan Andrei Anton | Managing Director, Unleashed Engineering
Session X: EVs
Evaluation of Vehicle and Tire Specifications across Various Energy Sources: EV, Gas, and Hybrid
Presented by
 
Evolution of Electric Vehicles and Hybrids*
Closing Remarks