How It Works (The Pin-Art Analogy)

Think of the classic “pin art” desk toy: many small pins moving independently to form a shape. Now imagine those pins as actuators at the tire surface, each delivering a brief, tangential push that propels the vehicle forward with minimal slip.

Direct thrust at the contact patch, smooth everywhere else for efficiency.

Beyond Efficiency: A Complete System Transformation

The implications extend far beyond improved drivetrains. By eliminating engines, transmissions, drive shafts, and the heavy structural frameworks required to support them, while enabling lightweight single-person pod architectures, the system could achieve 60-80% weight reductions compared to traditional vehicles. A typical 3,500-pound car becomes a 700-pound personal transport pod. Since energy requirements scale with mass, this dramatic weight reduction - combined with direct thrust application and elimination of drivetrain conversion losses - could deliver order-of-magnitude improvements in energy efficiency rather than incremental gains.

Need Another Reason

• Dynamic road surface stability as programmable actuators adapt instantly to ice, gravel, mud, or uneven terrain, maintaining grip where rubber tires fail.

• Actuators are the pixels of motion. Instead of drawing light on a screen, they draw force directly into the road.

FAQ - Franco Asks Questions

Really: frequently asked questions - "Franco" is a smart guy and likes to challenge our thinking

Q: Won’t the actuators just push up and down, causing bumping instead of forward motion?A: No. Like a pneumatic tire, the actuator tips and surface skin are designed to deform at the contact patch, converting force into tangential thrust. Sequencing them in traveling waves creates smooth propulsion - think more inchworm glide than jackhammer.Q: Isn’t this just a wheel hub motor?A: Hub motors apply torque at the hub, turning the whole wheel. SurfacePlan eliminates torque transfer entirely by generating propulsion directly at the road contact patch. Instead of one big motor, each wheel has multiple distributed actuators that are programmable, redundant, and efficient.Q: Won’t multiple inverters and cables make this too complex and expensive?A: A hub motor concentrates all power into one heavy unit that needs thick cabling and a high-capacity inverter. SurfacePlan spreads the work across many light actuators, so each needs only a small pulse of power. That means lighter wiring, simpler electronics, and a common power bus instead of dozens of separate inverters. The control brain is lightweight and directs timing, not heavy current, the opposite of “complex and expensive.”Q: How is traction managed on ice, gravel, or mud?A: Each actuator is like a pixel of motion. Instead of a fixed tread, SurfacePlan can reprogram its traction profile in real time thus optimizing grip per surface, something no passive tire can do.Q: Isn’t a tire already good enough at traction?A: A tire is one big, molded object. Its tread is always passive, and every rotation it meets the road the same way. Even clever tread designs or dual-compound tricks are still passive. SurfacePlan is active: each actuator is its own mini motor, programmable in real time. That gives variability in how the wheel handles terrain and road surfaces - something no molded tread can match.Q: What about unsprung weight and ride quality?A: In today’s cars, “unsprung weight” is defined relative to a heavy drivetrain sitting on top of the suspension. With SurfacePlan, vehicles will get lighter because the engine and drivetrain disappear. That changes the balance entirely. And unlike a rigid hub motor, our actuators themselves can provide compliance absorbing some shock naturally.Q: What’s actually being suspended - the whole car?A: In conventional vehicles, the suspension has to carry the engine, transmission, driveline, passengers, cargo, and batteries. With SurfacePlan, the heavy driveline disappears. The only things that really need suspension are the passenger, payload, and a reduced battery bank. Each wheel’s actuators act like mini shock absorbers at the contact patch, and elbow-type joints (part of our patent) provide steering and added suspension control.Q: What about ride comfort?A: Today’s suspension systems react after the bump. SurfacePlan wheels can eventually act as active suspension, softening impact at the contact patch or even predicting and canceling it before it happens. That’s comfort built in at the wheel.Q: What about durability, dirt, potholes, and wear?A: Durability is an engineering and materials challenge, not a show-stopper. The actuator tips carry a stretchable outer skirt that moves with them, shielding the mechanism from grit and debris. Wear parts are modular and replaceable (more like brake pads than tires). Short strokes and sealed paths limit intrusion, and because the whole vehicle is lighter, impact forces are far lower than on today’s cars.Q: Won’t the actuators just get caked with mud like normal tires?A: Mud is a huge challenge even for today’s best off-road tires as they fill up, smooth out, and stop working. SurfacePlan is different: the “tread” isn’t fixed. Each actuator can flex and fire to shed mud on demand. That means the wheel can actively clear itself instead of waiting for rotation and centrifugal force to maybe fling debris out.Q: What if one actuator jams? Won’t that cause failure?A: Redundancy is built in. A wheel contains multiple actuators, and the control system simply routes around a fault. One stuck actuator doesn’t disable the wheel - it gets isolated and scheduled for maintenance.Q: Does it coast, or is every stroke wasting energy?A: Current pneumatic tires rely on constant air deformation, which wastes energy as heat. SurfacePlan actuators can lock in place, letting the wheel coast without kneading a big rubber carcass. Efficiency must be measured at the system level: one wheel replaces the motor, gearbox, driveshaft, differential, much of the braking, and some suspension; a cascade of weight and energy savings.Q: What about heat dissipation?A: Heat is actually easier to manage in SurfacePlan wheels than in a single big motor. Each actuator produces only a tiny pulse of energy, spread across the entire circumference. That distributes heat over a large surface area right at the tire edge, where airflow naturally cools. Instead of finding ways to vent a large, buried motor, heat is managed passively and evenly.