The Geneva Auto Show has been canceled, but that hasn’t stopped many of the companies due to present there from scheduling online alternatives to conventional press conferences. Today, Goodyear introduced its latest “stretch concept” tire, the ReCharge, which theoretically never needs replacing or even rotating because it can replace worn treads from the inside.

The idea is essentially the same as making PlayDoh spaghetti. However instead of squishing semi-edible “dough” through a child-size pasta press, ReCharge tires extrude a high-tech compound of renewable materials including dandelion rubber and synthetic spider silk. The mixture is fed through a series of fine pipes out to the surface of the wheel where they dry, cure and set into brand new, fully-functional treads. These offer a more environmentally responsible alternative to the standard tire composition of today, which requires the addition of either carbon black or silica to shore up the structural capabilities of petroleum rubber. In this case, the synthetic spider silk can help augment the natural properties of dandelion rubber to reduce wear and extend the functional life of the tire.

What’s more, this concept tire is reportedly structurally designed so that it doesn’t need to be pressurized so it’ll never go flat. Instead of relying on air pressure, the replacement tread solution would be stored in replaceable canisters within the wheel hub. As road conditions and driving style change throughout the seasons — ie, a summer of hoonin’ which fades into a slippery, wet fall and ice-bound winter — these canisters can be swapped out and activated to optimize the tire’s traction, fuel efficiency and mileage requirements. How it does this would be based on data gleaned from the vehicles myriad telemetry sensors. There’s no word yet on whether this would be responsive in real-time or whether driver’s would need to take their cars to a shop for that process to occur.

Obviously, this tire system has just as good a chance of hitting the market in its current form as Mercedes’ Avatar-mobile from CES 2020, so don’t go getting your hopes up for spike-strip-proof wheels in the foreseeable future. However as Goodyear CTO, Chris Helsel, explained to Engadget, many of the underlying processes and features could well be here within the decade. Goodyear already has prescriptive algorithmic systems in place that can monitor and estimate the life remaining on tires based on the driver’s style while environmentally-sustainable materials like dandelion rubber are primarily bottlenecked by their relative costs of production.

Still, Helsel remains confident that the industry will be able to overcome that supply shortage and be able to produce these materials at scale within the next half dozen years or so. Either way, expect to see this technology arrive in corporate vehicle fleets before it arrives in whatever you park in your driveway.

The Cyber Tire system works by collecting data from a vehicle as it drives, such as whether there is water on the road that could cause aquaplaning. This data is sent from the vehicle to a central hub via 5G, which enables low latency transmission. Then, data on current road conditions and aquaplanning risks can be sent to other cars in the nearby area, also via 5G.

The Pirelli tires come in to play as they are the only part of the car which is in direct contact with the road. That means the sensors in the Cyber Tire can collect information about road surfaces, and in the future they’ll also be able to detect factors like the distance traveled on the tires and the dynamic load.

Pirelli debuted the connected tire at the “5G Path of Vehicle-to-Everything Communication” event in Turin, Italy this week, along with partner manufacturers Ericsson, Audi, Tim, Italdesign and KTH. The company has not yet announced when the tires will be generally available, but it has said that the new technology should improve both road safety and car performance.

More importantly, there’s a tangible roadmap. GM will start testing the Uptis in Michigan later in 2019 on a fleet of Chevy Bolts, and expects the finished version to reach production cars as soon as 2024. The automaker hasn’t named specific car models that will use the new tires.

The Uptis should have immediate financial and safety benefits. While it won’t be completely invulnerable, blowouts, flat tires and irregular wear would be things of the past. However, GM and Michelin see this as particularly important for a future where electric and self-driving cars are commonplace. Airless tech reduces the need for environmentally harmful tire production, and eliminates the need for a spare tire that adds weight and shrinks fuel economy. They’d also help autonomous vehicles drive around the clock without fear that a stray nail will ruin a trip. Don’t be shocked if this becomes the norm, if just because the expectations for cars themselves will have changed.