Pirelli Invests in Swedish Tech Firm Univrses to Advance Smart Tires and AI Vision Integration

Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli has entered into a partnership with Swedish tech company Univrses and acquired a 30% stake in the latter. The two companies will integrate Pirelli’s Cyber Tyre intelligent tire system with Univrses’ AI-powered computer vision technology to enhance vehicles’ perception of their own position and surrounding environment. Cyber Tyre is an integrated hardware-software system equipped with multiple sensors—some embedded directly inside the tire—to support advanced driver assistance functions and road condition monitoring. The system operates in conjunction with external sensors such as cameras. Univrses’ 3DAI engine provides capabilities in spatial deep learning, 3D localization, and 3D map construction, significantly improving autonomous vehicles’ understanding of their surroundings. The combined technologies are already being applied in real-world projects: Pirelli and Italy’s Apulia region launched a pilot program in 2025 to monitor road networks by integrating data collected from Cyber Tyre with Univrses’ visual technology, creating continuously updated maps of road infrastructure conditions. Although still in the early proof-of-concept phase, the project has progressed into advanced development. In the future, tires could become a key source of vehicle- and road-related data within AI-driven connected mobility ecosystems.