AutoAlign reducing air pollution

We are proud to announce the development of AutoAlign – a connected technology to continuously monitor wheel alignment – in conjunction with Aston University, University of Chester, McLaren Applied and Dynamon.

Tyre Industry Research concludes that on the UK roads today there are 18.7 million vehicles operating with incorrect wheel alignment. This misalignment is simply a consequence of routine day to day use, but often goes undetected for months until the problem is identified at scheduled maintenance or legislative testing. The consequential excessive tyre tread abrasion is widely recognised as a major contributor to vehicle particulate emissions (PM2.5 and PM10) by the World Health Organisation. For business it adds costly overheads of increased fuel consumption and premature tyre replacement.

AutoAlign is being engineered to detect all three alignment issues (toe-in/toe-out, camber and caster) as accurately as existing workshop technology. Significantly, it will identify the issue in real-time while the vehicle is operating on the road. AutoAlign is designed to promote fast correction therefore minimising emissions and improving vehicle efficiency.

Mark Longden, Project Lead and Technical Director of TyreWatch, commented: "We are delighted that Innovate UK chose to support our important new environmental health project. We have months of hard work and testing ahead of us before AutoAlign will be ready for production in quarter 4 of 2021 – under our AlignWatch brand."