Michelin has been named official tyre partner to Roborace - the first global race championship designed for electrically powered, driverless cars.

The tyres to be developed by Michelin must be capable of handling the speeds and rigours of this new racing format, estimated at more than 300km/h, while being equally suitable for use on standard road cars.

A key goal of the Roborace project, according to Michelin, will be to develop software and hardware that will accelerate the speed to market of driverless technology.

Commenting, Michelin Motorsport Director, Pascal Couasnon said: “Driverless technology is coming and Michelin wants to be at the forefront in research and development in order to take our products to the next level by applying our expertise and knowhow to the world of autonomous motoring”.