The health of your tires has a huge impact on your truck's fuel efficiency and road safety.
But despite all the arguably attractive solutions that offer driver assistance features and self-driving software, tires don't get the attention they deserve. At least that's what Ron Lee, director of business development at BANF, a startup that develops hardware and software to monitor tire health, says.
South Korea-based BANF, which stands for Begin A New Feature, uses sensors to collect data on tire pressure, temperature, tread wear, wheel alignment, and even lug nut stability. That data is analyzed using machine learning to provide drivers and fleet managers with insights into not only tire health, but also cargo load measurements and road surface conditions. According to Lee, BANF's insights are up to 90% accurate and useful to everyone from fleet management companies to OEMs to the transportation sector.
“Tires are the only point of contact with the road,” Lee told TechCrunch. “We are not saying that we are replacing vision-based methods of capturing potholes and road conditions, but rather a complementary solution. This is one of the key metrics that road managers need to know because they have limited budgets and need to know where to prioritize.”
The four-year-old startup, which has operations in South Korea and China and plans to launch in Texas, will launch at a time when self-driving trucks are gaining a foothold on highways. There is.
“The purpose of self-driving cars is to operate 24/7 to maximize profits, which means more stress on the tires,” Lee said, adding that electric cars also weigh less due to their batteries. He pointed out that it would be heavier and could wear out the tires. “Tire data will become even more important in the future.”
Tire industry incumbents have embraced smart tire technology in recent years, winning customers for AV startups. Both May Mobility and Kodiak Robotics utilize Bridgestone's in-wheel sensors and predictive algorithms to monitor tire condition, and Gatik utilizes Goodyear's road friction sensing technology. In 2022, Bridgestone invested in Tirata, a tire sensor and data management startup, and in 2021 in Goodyear-backed Tactile Mobility, which uses virtual sensors and cloud computing to estimate tire grip.
BANF, a participant in the TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Startup Battlefield, has a slightly different solution than other companies in the industry. The main part of the company's hardware product is a “triaxial” sensor attached to the tire's inner liner that measures motion and forces along the X-axis, or the length of the track, such as acceleration and deceleration. Capture left and right movement in the Y axis, such as when a truck turns or turns. It measures the truck's Z-axis, or up and down, movement, such as bumps and road vibrations.
Image credit: BANF
This sensor also has pressure and temperature sensors and can send raw data via Bluetooth to the next piece of hardware in the BANF stack, the “smart profiler.”
The Profiler works as a transmitter, receiver, and charger in one. It is mounted on the truck's mud flaps and connected to the vehicle's battery, allowing it to provide wireless power and continuous power supply to the sensor. It also facilitates the transfer of sensor data to wherever the client wants to receive it, such as telematics devices, fleet management devices, or even vehicle on-board systems for real-time monitoring and analysis.
Lee said the entire system costs $50 per vehicle per month. He also said BANF's technology can save fleet owners up to $4,500 per truck per year in fuel consumption and tire maintenance.
BANF is currently collaborating with Volvo Group, Hyundai Motor Group and DHL on various projects. Lee said BANF's technology is currently installed in 123 vehicles, including four passenger cars, and the rest in Class 8 trucks operating in Sweden, the United States, India, South Korea and China. That's what it means.
The executive said BANF will work with a major US tire manufacturer to commercialize the startup's technology through a profit-sharing agreement by the end of 2026.
Source: BANF Image credit: BANF
BANF raised $5 million in pre-Series A last year and is close to closing a $12 million Series A round, Lee said. BANF aims to start trading on the Korea Stock Exchange at the end of 2027 and then challenge for a US Nasdaq IPO. But Lee said BANF has other exit opportunities available.
“We have a lot of exit options, not just tire companies,” Lee said. “We could be very beneficial to commercial vehicle manufacturers in gaining market share, and even fleet management companies, telematics equipment companies and insurance companies.”