Bridgestone partners with Microsoft to accelerate digital transformation

A collaboration between Bridgestone and Microsoft will see the tire maker using Microsoft Azure to support the acceleration of tire-based development and go-to-market strategies. The decision was made to support Bridgestone’s digital transformation and sustainable solutions portfolio.

By using Azure, Bridgestone aims to enable value for global fleet and OEM customers by integrating advanced tire analytics to enable a better understanding of tire wear and casing health. This will in turn maximize tire retreading and inform customers or fleet managers when tire maintenance may be required. Both companies will continue using the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform to gather tire data in real time as part of a fully integrated vehicle ecosystem.

The tire manufacturer will also build new cloud capabilities using Azure to enable the further streamlining and modernization of its core tire business and IT operations. By improving its core infrastructure, Bridgestone seeks to deliver a quicker expansion of tire-centric solutions to the customer, in addition to improved efficiencies and collaboration, more robust governance and security, and overall operational cost savings.

“Since our first collaboration announcement in 2020, Microsoft has been a valuable partner in both our European and Americas markets,” said Paolo Ferrari, joint global chief operating officer, Bridgestone Corporation, and president and CEO, Bridgestone Americas. “We are excited to build on this collaboration with enhanced and expanded offerings that allow Bridgestone globally to develop new innovations and quickly deliver them to our customers aligned with the Bridgestone E8 Commitment.

“We know that uptime, driver safety and total cost of ownership are paramount for Fleets, for example,” said Ferrari. “The Connected Vehicle Platform allows us to provide insights through each of these lenses, as well as others, using data directly from the tire to unlock value that otherwise remains trapped.”

“Our long-standing relationship with Bridgestone has led to many successes and we look forward to supporting their journey in delivering new solutions that result in improvements, fleet management and overall business efficiencies,” explained Sanjay Ravi, general manager, automotive mobility and transportation, Microsoft.