TIRE REPLACEMENT FORECASTING SYSTEM AND METHOD

A tire replacement forecasting system and method is disclosed. The system (10) comprises a tire (12) supporting a vehicle (14); a sensor unit (26) being mounted on the tire (12), the sensor unit 26) including a footprint centerline length measurement sensor to measure a centerline length (30) of a footprint (32) and a pressure sensor to measure a pressure (38) of the tire (12); a processor (36) in electronic communication with the sensor unit (26), the processor (36) being configured for receiving the measured centerline length (30) and the measured pressure (38); an electronic vehicle network (40) being configured for transmitting selected vehicle parameters to the processor (36); a wear state predictor (112) being stored on the processor (36) and being configured for receiving the measured centerline length (30), the measured pressure (38), and the selected vehicle parameters as inputs, the wear state predictor (112) being configured for generating an estimated wear state (90) of the tire (12) from the inputs; and a forecasting model (92) being stored on the processor (36) and being configured for receiving as inputs multiple estimated wear states of the tire (12) from the wear state predictor (112), the forecasting model (92) being configured for predicting future wear states (94) of the tire (12). The system (10) is configured for generating a forecast tire replacement date (98) by the forecasting model (92).