Patent ID: 7694556

Claim:
A method of detecting and estimating an intensity of hydroplaning of a tire of a vehicle travelling on a wet road surface, a tread of the tire being equipped with one or more sensors each capable of measuring a characteristic quantity of stresses that the tread experiences locally when the tire is rolling on the road surface, the method comprising: obtaining measurements of a characteristic quantity of a tire when the tire is rolling on a road surface, the measurements being obtained using one or more sensors; producing a signal corresponding to the measurements; extracting a portion of the signal relating to a passing of the one or more sensors into an apparent area of contact between the tire and the road surface; determining, from the extracted portion of the signal, a first instantaneous value (ΔL), corresponding to a length of an indirect contact region of the apparent area of contact between the tread and the road surface, and a second instantaneous value (ΔE, R z , A x ), corresponding to an intensity of hydroplaning in the indirect contact region relative to a remainder of the apparent area of contact; estimating a water height (h w ) from a calculation that takes into account the determined first instantaneous value (ΔL); and estimating the intensity of the hydroplaning from the estimate of the water height (h w ) and from the second instantaneous value (ΔE, R z , A x ).