About the Project

Continental™ ADAPTIVE TRAXION is a new Continental™ Rubber outsole developed by artificial intelligence, giving maximum grip to quickly change direction on any surface, dry or wet.

This concept was conceived in adidas Future in 2015 - a parametric traction execution that could be generated and tested to find an optimal geometry that would provide ideal edge length, depth, compliance, and surface area to adapt to different surface conditions encountered in urban running.

This was a collaborative effort with Future Engineering and Sport Science teams and computational designers Jacques Perrault and Andrew Schneider.

The resulting geometry can be populated across a graded size run at the optimized scale to ensure tested traction performance and durability. This parametric approach allows for efficient application on future inline product designs. Proven base geometry attributes can be matched with individual outsole rubber compounds and oriented for sport-specific movements and surfaces, ensuring that lab-tested performance is always present in new product.

adidas Adaptive Traxion™