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Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

'Design Innovation' is a project that embodies Hankook Tire's continuous commitment to future mobility innovation, extending beyond traditional tyre design. Through this initiative, the company explores and develops innovative design solutions for future tyres and broader mobility concepts, envisioning their role within smart cities. With a foundation in cutting-edge technology and experiential design, Hankook Tire introduces its vision for the future through this forward-thinking project.

As a powerful global tyre brand, Hankook Tire is leading the charge in a ‘valuable journey toward the future.’ With over 80 years of experience, the company launched the world's first electric vehicle-only tyre brand, 'iON', securing a leading position in the global mobility market. This achievement is the result of solidifying global competitiveness in preparation for the era of electrification. ‘Design Innovation’ is further step and key initiative that realizes the vision pursued by Hankook Tire.

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

Design Innovation in the long journey to future mobility

The path that Hankook Tire’s ‘Design Innovation’ has taken is similar to the journey that tyres have taken to become the cornerstone of future mobility. Hankook Tire has continuously presented a vision of future mobility that combines technology and design through this initiative.

Launched in 2012 as a project called ‘The Way to the Future,’ the initiative has been proposing tyre solutions that respond to changes in the mobility landscape, driving innovation in tyre technology. This project promotes a collaborative approach, bringing together experts from various fields including design, engineering, architecture, and sociology. Notably, the company conducted research on future driving environments in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati in the United States (2012, 2020), the University of Pforzheim in Germany (2014), and the Royal College of Art (RCA) in the United Kingdom (2018). The research results are made public through exhibitions, contributing to the discovery of innovative ideas and fostering of talents.

A focal point connecting design, engineering, architecture, and sociology

At the beginning of the project, various factors such as population changes, urbanization, and technological advancement of future societies were analyzed. This analysis became a foundation for a variety of conceptualized virtual tyre solutions presented to respond to future mobility challenges. Since then, the project has become more sophisticated and efforts are being made to realize possible future scenarios into reality.
An aspect of this evolution is the strengthening of cooperation with technology companies through the ‘Design Innovation Alliance’ and focusing on developing prototypes. Hankook Tire has established partnerships with companies that possess future core technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and 3D spatial information services. Notable examples include collaborations with robotics company ‘Calmantec’ and 3D spatial information service provider ‘Mobiltech’ for the development of ‘Wheelbot’ in 2022.

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

With this collaboration, ‘Design Innovation’ is achieving notable results in mobility solutions for smart cities, advanced tyre technology, and mobility concepts for a sustainable future. This article describes how Hankook Tire has secured competitiveness in the future mobility market through the project's development process and achievements.

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

A decade-long leap toward progress and the future

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation' project contains a vision to bring about change in the future mobility landscape and urban lifestyle. Initially, it started with an approach to the shape and function of tyres, but over time, it gradually expanded its scope and presented solutions for space utilization related to tyres and the overall mobility environment.

1. The Way to the Future (2012)

  • Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

  • A variable hybrid tyre uses a shape memory alloy located inside the tread that changes constantly to suit changing conditions.

In 2012, when Hankook Tire began its ‘Design Innovation’ project, its research goal was to develop tyre technology that would minimise environmental impact and increase the efficiency of urban transportation. Major examples include ‘variable hybrid tyres’ that maximize fuel efficiency by adjusting the contact area of the tread according to changing environments, and ‘sports tyres’ that have three-stage tyres that stably lean along the road surface and contact the ground in extreme cornering situations.

With this project, Hankook Tire focused on each of the tyre's essential functions —including cornering, off-road performance, fuel efficiency, and ride comfort—while also taking a more fundamental approach to solidify a design concept tailored to the future driving environment. This initial vision, combining technology and creativity, became an important starting point for establishing an image as a technology company that goes beyond a simple tyre manufacturer and responds proactively to the changing mobility environment.

2. A Great Challenge for a Great Change (2014)

  • Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

  • A tyre that provides the best driving performance across diverse terrains, addressing challenges related to abnormal climate conditions such as desertification, heavy rain, and heavy snow resulting from rapid global warming.

In 2014, the company explored tyre technologies designed to address terrain challenges caused by climate change due to global warming. The goal was to propose a tyre shape optimised for extreme natural environments, such as desertification, heavy rain, and heavy snow. Under normal circumstances, the tyre maintains a general form suitable for the road environment, but when it encounters a special road surface, the tread separates in all directions and provides improved off-road traction. When it snows, the tread expands in the driving direction and grips the road like crampons, allowing a driver to experience powerful driving performance even in severe winter conditions.

This research extends to a sustainability perspective, showing that tyre technology can play a key role in combating climate change. Hankook Tire has become recognized as a company that pursues technological innovation and environmental protection at the same time by presenting a new direction for tyres in a sustainable future.

3. Connect to the Connected World (2016)

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

The purpose of using a vehicle varies greatly from person to person, and this trend toward personalization is expected to intensify in the future. Hankook Tire has been researching tyres that will power future mobility in various infrastructures, including shared vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and emergency vehicles.
One innovative concept is ‘Magfloat’, a single-person mobility product that is an evolution of the current electric kickboard. It can be used indoors and moves at speeds of less than 20 km/h by utilizing the principles of magnetic field expansion and rotation. Another concept, ‘Flexup’, is a one-person mobility vehicle that can navigate corners on flat surfaces and can overcome obstacles like stairs with ease.

In addition to personal use, Hankook Tire has also developed designs for the general public. They include driverless buses that automatically attach and detach tyres, adjust the size of their bodies according to the number of passengers. Additionally, police-specific mobility vehicles that move nimbly and safely in complex urban environments.

4. Extending Future Life Beyond Mobility (2018)

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

‘HLS-23 (Hankook Logistics System),' which can freely move in groups according to the size of the load, will bring about innovative changes to existing logistics systems.

Hankook Tire initially envisioned this project with a target year of 2035. This is because it is expected that fully autonomous driving, robots, and AI will become integral to everyday life by this time. Tyres that maximize downforce to enable stable high-speed driving will bring about great changes to the world of racing. Imagine a logistics movement system that can operate alone or in groups depending on the size and weight of an object. If this becomes a reality, the current courier logistics systems that rely on human labor will be dramatically improved.

5. Urban Reshaping (2020)

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

Since 2020, Hankook Tire has been advancing projects under the assumption that tyre technology can coexist with urban design and create new possibilities in how urban spaces are utilised. ‘HPS (Hankook Platform System)-Cell’ is a core mobility solution that increases connectivity in urban spaces by utilizing autonomous driving and AI-based technologies. HPS-Cell tyres can detect road conditions and tyre wear in real time and change their pattern for an optimal driving experience. This technology extends to commercial use as it can create efficient management systems that respond to the risk of tyre wear and automatically optimize the tread pattern for the road surface.

6. WheelBot (2022)

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

Wheelbot is a modular robotic wheel system with three-axis movement and is an ongoing project to realize future mobility.

On September 30, 2022, Hankook Tire presented the WheelBot, at the offline event ‘Design Innovation Day,’ thereby providing a tangible visualization of Hankook Tire’s future mobility vision and technological prowess. A combination of the words ‘wheel’ and ‘robot’, Wheelbot is a modular robotic wheel system with three-axis movement and 360-degree mobility. Wheelbot can move in all directions and excels in energy efficiency and space utilization. It is expected to add mobility to service robots by enabling more dynamic driving than existing ultra-small wheels for robots, and it will create a new type of movement by enabling omnidirectional capabilities and offers seamless boarding and driving. This project has evolved from a simple concept to practical implementation.

7. Urban Reshaping (2022)

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

What kind of mobility will be needed in 2040, when regions are expected to become overcrowded, populations are polarized, and environmental problems are expected to become more serious? Hankook Tire has envisioned a solution with Space Shifting Mobility (SSM). This innovative concept combines Hankook Tire’s groundbreaking spherical wheel system with a passenger space roughly the size of a minivan, enabling seamless movement along rails installed on roads and buildings. SSM is a means of transportation, but it is also a moving ‘space’ in itself. It can be a one-person office, a conference room, a hospital room, or a mobile garden.

Hankook Tire's 'Design Innovation', a 10-year journey

The Urban Reshaping Concept and Wheelbot, which were carried out in 2022, were selected as the Professional Concept Winners at the German ‘iF Design Award 2023.’

Hankook Tire's design innovation began with tire development and has gradually evolved into offering solutions for the broader mobility environment and urban spaces. These efforts have been recognized internationally, winning numerous awards at world-renowned design awards such as the iF Design Award, the Red Dot Design Award, and the IDEA Design Award. In particular, the company has proven both its technological prowess and design capabilities in the global market by winning four main awards at the 2023 iF Design Award.

With the ‘Design Innovation’ project, Hankook Tire continues its journey to lead future mobility and create a human-centred sustainable lifestyle by combining technology and design. We look forward to the changes in mobility experiences that will be presented through this project in the future and how they will impact and reshape daily lives and industries in the years to come.

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