The tire business can be a brutal one - low growth, low margins and extreme competition. Tire makers are at the mercy of ups and downs of raw material prices...
That’s pretty much the point. We could’ve had vehicles that could drive over rough ground, but they opted to make flat roads and rubber tires, both of which are causing issues environmentally and congestion.
My whole thought experiment is : If you were to settle a brand new world, would you repeat the concept of roads and rubber tires?
We wouldn’t bother with independent motorized transportation. It would be trains for between cities and public transit so ubiquitous that bikes would be exiled strictly for rural exploration outside of cities.
You’ve never driven over a shitty dirt road eh? Top speed is like 5mph, mud, ruts, potholes so deep you bottom out, etc
That’s pretty much the point. We could’ve had vehicles that could drive over rough ground, but they opted to make flat roads and rubber tires, both of which are causing issues environmentally and congestion.
My whole thought experiment is : If you were to settle a brand new world, would you repeat the concept of roads and rubber tires?
We wouldn’t bother with independent motorized transportation. It would be trains for between cities and public transit so ubiquitous that bikes would be exiled strictly for rural exploration outside of cities.