The idea is to have electronic valves that "know" how much pressure is in the tyres.. and that can inflate/deflate the tyres if necessary... or at least inform the driver to do so. GIven that more than 50% of road accidents involve improperly inflated tyres, this concept is a huge road safety endeavour... with the proper electronic sensor in the tyres themselves, treadwear could also be monitored that dangerous conditions also be observable to the unaware driver. These 2 concepts would save 1000's of lives if used.
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Yep, done. Tyre deflation and brake pad wear are routinely monitored on new cars.
It's actually possible to tell the tyre deflation without a sensor in the tyre. Modern braking systems have feedback from accelerometers both to balance braking during (for example) turns and to assess how good a grip they have on the road. Low inflation in the tyres shows up as a sort of springiness in the response that can be detected and reported to the driver.
I don't know if anyone has tackled tread wear monitoring, but it's a good plan.
See the latest or last month's Consumer Reports for best rated products. They can be retrofitted and I think are under about 300$.While safety is a factor - it's also great to identify a faulty tire (slow leak) and prevent being stranded on one of those roads that only are lit when a car travels on them -(refering to Lighting the night posting under Environment)