We've heard about airless tires, self-repairing tires, and even wood-based tires. But the race for a high tech wheel continues. Introducing the self-inflating tire.

This idea comes from the madmen at automotive supplier giant Continental. It's called the Conti C.A.R.E. (Connected, Autonomous, Reliable and Electrified) and was shown off at last month's Frankfurt International Motor Show. That's a lot of buzz words, but it doesn't actually explain what it does.

The tire contains a number of technologies inside that, track several aspects of the tire, ranging from tread depth to air pressure. This information can be relayed back to a maintenance station, which would recall the vehicle in for repairs as needed.

But that isn't the interesting part.

It would be terribly inconvenient to have to summon a car for maintenance every time a tire had low air pressure. So to offset this, the air will re-inflate itself as needed. A series of centrifugal pumps are placed inside the tire that utilizes the motion of the car to generate additional air pressure. The pressured air can then be stored in a small tank, saved away for when it's needed most.

With things like speed and temperature affecting a tire's air pressure, self-regulating tires would mean maximum contact with the road. This means the highest safety and fuel efficiency a tire can manage.

There's currently no official plan for bringing this to the public. Not that we could have afforded something like this anyway.