Pirelli has taken a 24.99% stake in RIDEsense, a start-up spun out of the University of Naples Federico II and the MegaRide mobility technology ecosystem, as it moves to strengthen its Cyber Tyre platform.
Under the agreement, Pirelli will license RIDEsense’s virtual sensor software and has an option to increase its holding to 100% of RIDEsense’s share capital. The partnership is designed to combine Pirelli’s existing tyre-based data collection with RIDEsense’s “virtual sensor” algorithms, which extract additional information from vehicle electronic control units already present in production cars—without requiring new hardware.
Pirelli says the integrated approach will improve real-time safety functions, including aquaplaning detection, and expand tyre and broader vehicle diagnostic capabilities. Cyber Tyre is already fitted as original equipment on selected production vehicles, where data from tyre-embedded sensors is relayed in real time to systems such as ABS and stability control.
The companies also said the deal includes safeguards intended to limit how RIDEsense’s virtual sensor technology can be granted to third parties.
RIDEsense, founded in 2023, develops physics-based algorithms that model vehicle and tyre behaviour. Its technology is available both as software that can run on standard vehicle ECUs to implement virtual sensors, and as hardware via a platform called Kymes, aimed at testing and motorsport use.
Pirelli’s chief technical officer, Piero Misani, said the agreement builds on the company’s earlier work to integrate tyre data collection and transmission into Cyber Tyre, now extending the ecosystem’s software component.
The collaboration comes as the tyre industry increasingly positions components as sources of vehicle data, supporting advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and other automation technologies.
