Rationale: Tires and road are the main interaction elements between vehicles and external environment. Nevertheless, such round, black and bouncing objects, in contact with a randomly rough rigid substrate are still widely unknown in their deep working mechanisms, due to the multiple and complex physical effects involved in their use, and to the high nonlinearities of phenomena arising at their interface. Current advances in nanostructures, and in measurement, testing and modelling techniques, will represent the driver to the development of novel approaches to micro and nanostructures, both from the chemical and physical points of view, applied to both sides of tire/road contact.

Approach: The adoption of advanced techniques for road roughness analysis, for polymeric compounds modelling and non-destructive viscoelastic characterization, and for tire friction, energy and temperature evaluation from indoor and outdoor data, will allow to build a consistent knowledge, useful to design materials and surfaces able to overcome the criticalities linked to dry and lubricated contact in mobility.