History

TraXtion, formerly Tire Profiles, was formed in 2008 as an offshoot of a railway diagnostics company called ImageMap. From the early 1990s, Roger Tracy and his team of engineers at ImageMap developed diagnostic measurement systems for railway infrastructure and rolling stock. Complementary systems were also developed to measure different properties of the rail car wheels. These systems became widely used throughout the world for measuring rail track conformity on North America’s heavy haul railroads, in China’s vast railway infrastructure system and on the high speed railways of Europe. ImageMap rail equipment is used today to measure track at up to 200 mph (320km/h).

At the same time, ImageMap also developed systems for use in the tire engineering labs of major tire manufacturers to measure tread depth and sidewall deflection of tires under load. The cutting edge technology of these “TireMap” systems formed the seed of what would become Tire Profiles. An early version was engineered for the Formula 1 racing circuit to measure the wear patterns of their grooved tires. This development was what gave birth to the tire replacement industry products TraXtion sells today.

In 2013, Roger Tracy team up with auto industry veteran David Boyle to help develop these products for the automotive industry. As TraXtion’s first president, David Boyle’s experience in building and running large technology-based companies with products designed specifically for the automotive repair market has been instrumental in shaping TraXtion into what it is today. In January 2014, TraXtion officially launched the TreadSpec brand of products to meet the needs of the automotive, new car, and aftermarket segments. Later that year, a prototype of what would become the Groove Glove won the best new technology product award as SEMA. With two products, TreadSpec and Groove Glove, TraXtion is the industry leader in tire and alignment measurement and diagnostic systems and instruments.

After conducting market research in 2020, Tire Profiles made the informed decision to change the company name to TraXtion. More than just a name change, this evolution better reflects the tech-forward progression made in tire alignment and tread measurement solutions software. As the leader in this space, TraXtion better positions our never-ending innovations for customers today and tomorrow.