THRIVE by Bridgestone Americas

The idea of a fleet may bring to mind a very specific type of vehicle for some people. But the reality in the modern world of mobility is that fleets truly come in all shapes and sizes.  In the latest episode of THRIVE, host Keith Cawley explores the changing world of commercial tire and fleet solutions with two of Bridgestone’s top experts – Steve Hoeft, President of the Commercial Truck Group for Bridgestone Americas, and Brian Cunningham, Vice President of Fleet Solutions Customer Success for Bridgestone Mobility Solutions. From traditional tractor trailers to emerging home delivery services, Steve and Brian discuss how innovative technologies and digital solutions are coming together with premium tire products to serve a diverse range of modern fleets across all areas of business

Explore Bridgestone’s fascinating history on the western coast of Africa where the country of Liberia has been home to Firestone Natural Rubber since 1926. In the latest episode of THRIVE, host Keith Cawley chats with two Liberian natives and current Firestone Natural Rubber employees, Marion Wreh-Socree and Murphy Socree, about operations, life, and community on a sprawling natural rubber farm that covers approximately 185 square miles. Rick Burnett, Vice President of Internal Manufacturing and President of Firestone Natural Rubber and Firestone Polymers, also joins to discuss the company's history in Liberia and how it is evolving for the future through an award-winning digitalization project. Listen to learn more about the complexity of an operation that goes well beyond farming to provide housing, roadways, schools, medical centers, and more for thousands of employees and their families.

It was only four years after its founding as a rubber and tire company that Bridgestone produced its first golf ball. Nearly 90 years later, Bridgestone Golf continues to serve the Bridgestone brand both as a promotional platform and a showcase for material science innovation. Join host Keith Cawley and Dan Murphy, President of Bridgestone Golf, to discover the parallels that connect Bridgestone tire technology to golf ball development – with a little research and development help from golf legends like Tiger Woods.

When you think of robots, most envision the rigid movements of the metallic, stiff machines popularized in TV and movies. But there is a very different and more realistic image that comes to mind for Hiroki Nakayama and the team at Bridgestone Soft Robotics Ventures. While exhibiting this exploratory technology at CES 2024, Nakayama-san joins THRIVE host Keith Cawley to explain how our rubber, material science, and friction expertise make Bridgestone a natural fit for this space. Listen along to explore more about how Bridgestone Soft Robotics Ventures views the dynamic realm of this innovation, its applications, and it’s potential impact on the perception of human-robot interaction.

Human trafficking is a global crisis impacting more than 50 million victims as of 2023. With a connected network of customers and partners always moving across America’s roadways, transportation industry leaders like Bridgestone can play a critical role in the fight. In this episode of THRIVE from CES 2024, Esther Goetsch, Executive Director of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), and Josh Holland, Vice President of Dealer Operations for Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, join host Keith Cawley to discuss how TAT and Bridgestone working together to raise awareness of the problem and drive change.

Motorsports have long been a proving ground and mobile lab for leaders in the automotive industry, and Bridgestone is no different. But in line with its vision for the future and long-term targets, the company is increasingly focusing its racing energy in emerging motorsports platforms that are trying to drive innovation in alternative and more sustainable mobility – such as the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. In the latest episode of THRIVE recorded at CES 2024, host Keith Cawley chats with Todd Uchida, Director of the Bridgestone Motorsports Division in Japan, and Matthew Albert, captain of the Éclipse ÉTS World Solar Challenge team, to go inside this unique solar car competition and where it fits within Bridgestone’s global motorsports and business strategies.

Dive into the connected ecosystem of fleet management in this episode of THRIVE live from CES 2024. Dishing on data and talking telematics, host Keith Cawley sits down with Jan-Maarten de Vries, President of Fleet Management Solutions for Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, to explore how platforms like Webfleet and Azuga are integral to Bridgestone’s mobility solutions strategy. From collecting real-time data from vehicles to providing actionable insights to fleet managers, these platforms have the potential to influence energy and emissions, cost of ownership, predictive maintenance, and more in the pursuit of improved efficiency, safety and sustainability.

With a shared history in motorsports and a common vision for a more sustainable future, Penske and Bridgestone continue to travel similar paths to drive change in the mobility industry. In this episode live from CES 2024, THRIVE host Keith Cawley chats with Bill Combs, Vice President of Sustainability at Penske, and Mark Metoki, Executive Director of Sustainability Enabling Solutions for Bridgestone, about areas of collaboration, co-creation, and shared learning where these two historic companies are working closely together to advance operations and innovation both within their own businesses and across the mobility ecosystem. 

THRIVE kicks off season 7 at CES 2024 by exploring the rapid advancement of autonomous vehicle technologies with Don Burnette, CEO and founder of Kodiak Robotics, and Cassiano Polycarpo, Director of Original Equipment Account Management for Bridgestone Mobility Solutions. Don shares his journey from the early days at Google's self-driving team to founding Kodiak Robotics, while Cassiano explains how Bridgestone is making an impact on these technologies. Between current breakthroughs and a critical role to be played by tires, the future is now for both Kodiak and Bridgestone when it comes to bringing driver-less vehicles to the road.

In October 2023, Bridgestone introduced the next chapter in its global strategy with the formation of Bridgestone West. In this episode of THRIVE, CEO Paolo Ferrari sits down with Keith Cawley to explain the drivers of this dynamic integration, which is bringing together Bridgestone businesses and functions across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Paolo shares how this new global structure will accelerate business opportunities, expand synergies, and foster best practice sharing across the regions to help deliver Bridgestone’s vision to become a sustainable solutions company.