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A Dream Born in the Mud
The story of ARWIMS begins with a simple observation: vehicles, especially heavy military trucks, often get stuck in mud or snow, particularly during the infamous "Rasputitsa" season in Eastern Europe.
Franck Guigan, an HEC graduate born in 1947 who has been a banker and industrialist, saw this as more than an inconvenience - it was a challenge to overcome.
Why should vehicles be confined to roads or deep waters? Why couldn’t they adapt effortlessly to any terrain? From this spark, ARWIMS was born, blending ingenious engineering with a bold vision to make vehicles truly amphibious.
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Unlike traditional amphibious vehicles, which are often bulky, expensive, and fragile, ARWIMS offers an elegant solution: wheels that think for themselves.
These are not ordinary tires. They are equipped with retractable paddles that deploy on soft terrain or water and retract on hard surfaces, along with a dynamic tread system that adjusts in real time to optimize grip and efficiency.
The result? A vehicle that can transition from pavement to a river or a muddy trail without missing a beat.
Prepare for a journey beyond imagination, as we stand on the cusp of a revolution that will redefine mobility—whether on land, water, mud, or even ice.
An Ancient Dream Realized: Driving on Water, Conquering Obstacles
Since time immemorial, humanity has dreamed of transcending the constraints of terrain.
Who hasn’t imagined their car gliding over water, crossing a muddy ditch with ease, climbing snowy slopes effortlessly, or driving safely across the fragile ice of a northern lake? ARWIMS makes this dream accessible to all, without the compromises of traditional amphibious vehicles.
Forget heavy, complex, and costly machines. ARWIMS embodies the elegance of mechanical simplicity at the service of unmatched versatility. At its core is the wheel, rethought and reinvented.
| We are testing number of different models, and this one was done only to check that paddles do deploy and retract automatically. |
The Magic of Retractable Paddle Wheels
Picture a wheel that transforms based on the surface it encounters. On a road, it’s a classic tire, offering grip and comfort. But as soon as it hits mud, snow, loose sand, or water, paddles emerge from its tread. These paddles are not mere gimmicks - they are the result of brilliant engineering, combining three fundamental physical principles:
| - | Paddle Propulsion: At low speeds on water, the ARWIMS wheel behaves like a paddlewheel, delivering thrust with remarkable efficiency, far surpassing propellers in these conditions. Only the efficient part of the wheel is in the water or in the mud.
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| - | Hydrodynamic Lift: Thanks to the subtle tilt of the paddles, an upward force is generated, lifting the vehicle and reducing drag: t’s as if your wheels have invisible wings! This lift pulls vehicles out of mud or sand and minimizes water resistance as speed increases.
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| - | Controlled Aquaplaning: At higher speeds, ARWIMS turns the undesirable phenomenon of aquaplaning into an advantage. The tilted paddles allow the vehicle to glide on water, with its surface resistance becoming comparable to concrete. Yes, you read that right: driving at high speed on water is now a reality!
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The system is designed for fully automatic adaptation.
| - | No need to press a button or switch modes. | |||||
| - | The paddles deploy when needed and retract on their own when they encounter obstacles like shallows or roads.
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| - | This intelligent synchronization, continuous geometry, and ability to adjust wheel height ensure smooth transitions and optimal stability in all conditions.
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The Intelligent Tire Revolution of Synchronized Pivoting Tread Elements:
Beyond retractable paddle wheels, ARWIMS pushes adaptability further with its “intelligent wheels,featuring synchronized pivoting tread elements that automatically adjust the tread pattern to the conditions encountered.
This is a revolution for all terrestrial vehicles! Imagine a tire that doesn’t just adapt to pressure or wear but actively modifies its contact patch, tread depth, or even deploys studs in real time. On a smooth highway, the tread is optimized for speed and fuel economy. But when you hit fresh snow or thick mud, the treads pivot within their housing to protrude from the contact patch, enhancing traction and braking.
This dynamic adaptability offers immense benefits:
| - | Unmatched Safety: Constantly optimal grip in any condition drastically reduces accident risks. |
| - | Energy Efficiency: The ability to adjust the contact patch enables significant energy savings, especially at low speeds or light loads. Less consumption means fewer emissions! |
This technology is so simple and lightweight, thanks to a deployment mechanism combining centrifugal force and a simple spring, that it remains highly affordable. It could become the new standard for the tire industry, not just for military or exploration vehicles.
More Freedom, Fewer Constraints
The applications are vast: emergency vehicles that can operate in flooded areas, agricultural machines adaptable to rice paddies, amphibious motorcycles and quads for extreme adventures.
Imagine a pleasure boat that no longer needs a marina and can land directly on a beach; an amphibious RV that ventures into the wilderness and transforms into a lake-crossing yacht; a convertible that becomes a water racer for a romantic lake ride before parking at a city restaurant; or a ferry that needs only a beach to load passengers and vehicles.
A Seismic Shift in Logistics and Ecology: The Revolution of Non-Navigable Rivers
Beyond cars and leisure, ARWIMS represents a much larger transformation: making all rivers and waterways around the world navigable. Today, millions of kilometers of rivers are underused or inaccessible for freight due to shallow areas, sandbanks, variable flows, and the high cost of dredging. Logistics relies heavily on road transport—expensive and polluting. ARWIMS changes that.
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Its retractable paddle wheels allow cargo vessels to glide over shallows and bypass dams on land—no heavy infrastructure or dredging needed. The impacts are huge:
| - | Up to 60% lower logistics costs than road transport over long distances. |
| - | 4 to 6 times fewer CO2 emissions per ton-kilometer—a key step toward a low-carbon future.Remote regions gain reliable access, boosting local trade, |
| - | agriculture, mining, and job creation. |
| - | Major job growth: hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect roles.Less road congestion and infrastructure wear thanks to freight diversion to waterways. |
This is intelligent, interconnected logistics using nature itself as infrastructure. Studies in the Amazon, Ganges, Niger, and rural Mississippi show its transformative potential. With ARWIMS-equipped barges, thousands of kilometers of rivers become viable. France's Loire River will be navigable—and many other regions will follow. The result: low-carbon logistics, unlocked territories, and a worldwide economic shift.
This is possible both with wheels whose height can be adjusted to adapt to the load, and with those whose blades only deploy in the lower part of their rotation cycle.
ARWIMS: The Future of Mobility Is in Motion
ARWIMS isn’t just a concept.
| - | Prototypes are already being tested, and engineers see no barriers to large-scale production. |
| - | The system is simple, robust, and protected by global patent applications. |
This is an invitation to manufacturers, integrators, and distributors to help bring a new generation of vehicles to life.
The future of mobility isn’t limited to roads.It’s amphibious, intelligent, and infinitely freer. ARWIMS is writing the next chapter in transportation history.
