Would you like your tires to talk to you? I'm not talking about road feedback, though that is certainly a wonderful thing. I'm thinking more along the lines of state of wear, current air pressure, and other characteristics that might affect their performance.

Pirelli is releasing just such a tire. Actually, it's two tires. The idea is called Pirelli Connesso and it will be available for the Pirelli P Zero and Pirelli Winter Sottozero tires starting this summer.

Each tire has a small chip embedded in its sidewall that weighs just a few grams and doesn't disrupt the balance of the tire. The chip is connected to the Pirelli cloud and to a smartphone app. The Connesso system recognizes each tire's identification code and can track it from when it's manufactured to when it's recycled at the end of its life.