Get a grip — this world-first winter tyre can automatically deploy studs when it detects freezing road conditions

• The Hakkapeliitta 01 tire can automatically deploy studs
• Temperature sensing technology adds grip in freezing conditions
• The tire tech has been 12 years in the making

Finnish brand Nokian (not to be confused with the Scandi phone company) has just released details of a new tire technology that can automatically sense freezing conditions and deploy metal studs to improve grip on ice and in snow.

According to the company, the technology that underpins the new Hakkapeliitta 01 tire has been 12 years in the making, progressing its initial research into a deployment system that required a trigger to something where the driver doesn’t have to lift a finger.

The on-demand grip technology is made possible through the brand’s Adaptive Base Construction, which sees the innermost layer of the tire stiffen in low temperatures to push the studs beyond the tire’s surface.