Goodyear says it will be testing its Air Maintenance Technology for commercial vehicles -- which keeps tires inflated without any external pumps or electronics -- on trucking fleets over the next year and a half.

Goodyear has been developing and testing the technology since 2011. It automatically keeps tires inflated to a specified cold inflation pressure with internal pumps and sensors. The AMT system is designed to work under many operating conditions and through multiple retreads.

“This is an important milestone in the development of AMT for the commercial trucking marketplace,” said Joseph Zekoski, chief technical officer. “The tires equipped with AMT have performed well in testing and we are pleased that so many of our fleet customers were eager to collaborate with us.”

The system uses a peristaltic pump technology to automatically maintain tire pressures specified by the fleet. All components of the AMT system are contained within the tire.

Properly inflated tires result in lower emissions, longer tire life, improved safety and better performance.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Vehicle Technology gave a $1.5 million grant to assist in the research and development of AMT. Representatives from the DOE met with Goodyear’s AMT teams in September to review the progress on the project.

“This phase of testing will go a long way in helping us determine when we can make this technology available in the commercial tire marketplace,” said Zekoski.