POLYN Technology has delivered its first VibroSense TMS engineering sensor nodes for customer evaluation, a step toward in-tire sensing of tire-road friction. The technology is still pre-commercial: according to the company’s announcement, made in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 28, 2026, POLYN plans to tape out a commercially available chip in mid-2027, followed by automotive qualification.

Engineering chips for evaluation

The VibroSense TMS engineering chip is an integrated circuit for tire-road friction detection, and it is being delivered for assembly into AI-enabled TPMS sensor nodes. POLYN says potential customers, including tire manufacturers, vehicle OEMs, chassis system suppliers, and providers of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving controls, can begin evaluating the enhanced nodes immediately. The release does not name any customers, vehicle programs or target markets.

How it works

Once installed in a tire, a sensor node with the VibroSense chip analyzes raw accelerometer data and estimates the peak friction coefficient (PFC) of the road surface under each wheel. The values are sent wirelessly to the vehicle’s ECU as a standard sensor signal, where braking, electronic stability control, all-wheel drive, autonomous driving and other systems can use them. POLYN says no mechanical changes to the vehicle are required, and that the technology can be used by any tire brand, needing only a simple calibration for each new tire type to capture its vibration signature.

“A road may look fine, but it isn’t,” said Aleksandr Timofeev, founder and CEO of POLYN. “Today’s braking, stability, and driver-assistance systems discover this the same way the driver does, when the wheel is already slipping. Tire-road friction is the last major input in vehicle dynamics that no sensor measures directly. VibroSense TMS changes that.”

A shorter stop on a wet surface

In a recent third-party test cited by POLYN, a vehicle with VibroSense TMS in its tires braked from 40 kilometers per hour (25 mph) on wet basalt pavement and stopped in 55.5 meters (182 feet), compared with 63.2 meters (207 feet) without it. That is a 12 percent reduction, or more than one full car length. The release does not identify the vehicle, the tires or where the test took place.

What it means for tire dealers

There is nothing for dealers to stock yet. The potential customers POLYN names are tire makers, automakers and their suppliers, and the release says nothing about aftermarket TPMS sensors, retail availability or a launch in North America. POLYN Technology is a fabless semiconductor company that develops neuromorphic analog signal processing (NASP) chips and has offices in the UK, Israel, the US, Europe and Asia. More on the technology is available on POLYN’s VibroSense TMS page.

Source: POLYN Technology press release