AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Tire Builders?

Task-level automation exposure for Tire Builders: 20 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

8% weighted task index

20 of 20 tasks scored

Median Salary

$57,390 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

20,770 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+0.8% employment change

1,900 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 20 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$44,150 – $74,100

Highest medians

Tennessee $74,100

North Carolina $63,950

Illinois $59,830

Ohio $56,370

Texas $54,880

Lowest medians

Florida $44,150

Georgia $44,220

Michigan $44,420

California $44,790

Pennsylvania $45,270

State figures come from the 51-9197 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 8%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 91%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 0%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 0%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 31/100 Moderate

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

20 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 0%

0 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 100%

20 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#14418 · Core · 4% automatable

Build semi-raw rubber treads onto buffed tire casings to prepare tires for vulcanization in recapping or retreading processes.

physical manipulation — Tire assembly is heavy manual dexterity work

Assemble tires.

#14430 · Core · 8% automatable

Trim excess rubber and imperfections during retreading processes.

physical manipulation — Manual trimming of workpieces

Trim excess material from workpieces.

#14425 · Core · 5% automatable

Fill cuts and holes in tires, using hot rubber.

physical manipulation — Filling cracks is manual finishing work

Fill cracks, imperfections, or holes in products or workpieces.

#14431 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Place tires into molds for new tread.

physical manipulation — Mounting workpieces is physical loading

Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment.

#14423 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Fit inner tubes and final layers of rubber onto tires.

physical manipulation — Tire assembly is heavy manual dexterity work

Assemble tires.

#21215 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Buff tires according to specifications for width and undertread depth.

physical manipulation — Abrasive hand work on physical surfaces

Smooth surfaces with abrasive materials or tools.

#14426 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Brush or spray solvents onto plies to ensure adhesion, and repeat process as specified, alternating direction of each ply to strengthen tires.

physical manipulation — Applying solutions to equipment is manual

Apply solutions to production equipment.

#14411 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Start rollers that bond tread and plies as drums revolve.

physical manipulation — Tire assembly is heavy manual dexterity work

Assemble tires.

#14415 · Supplemental · 7% automatable

Align treads with guides, start drums to wind treads onto plies, and slice ends.

physical manipulation — Hands-on industrial material cutting

Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing. Align parts or workpieces to ensure proper assembly.

#14413 · Supplemental · 25% automatable

Inspect worn tires for faults, cracks, cuts, and nail holes, and to determine if tires are suitable for retreading.

visual inspection — Defect inspection of physical items needs presence

Inspect items for damage or defects.

#14428 · Supplemental · 26% automatable

Measure tires to determine mold size requirements.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of material

Measure product or material dimensions.

#14427 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Roll hand rollers over rebuilt casings, exerting pressure to ensure adhesion between camelbacks and casings.

physical manipulation — Tire assembly is heavy manual dexterity work

Assemble tires.

#14417 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Position ply stitcher rollers and drums according to width of stock, using hand tools and gauges.

physical manipulation — Mounting tools requires hands-on setup

Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment.

#14414 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Cut plies at splice points, and press ends together to form continuous bands.

physical manipulation — Hands-on industrial material cutting

Cut industrial materials in preparation for fabrication or processing.

#14410 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Depress pedals to rotate drums, and wind specified numbers of plies around drums to form tire bodies.

physical manipulation — Tire assembly is heavy manual dexterity work

Assemble tires.

#14422 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Clean and paint completed tires.

physical manipulation — Applying finishes requires hands-on coating work

Clean workpieces or finished products. Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.

#14424 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Rub cement sticks on drum edges to provide adhesive surfaces for plies.

physical manipulation — Applying solutions to equipment is manual

Apply solutions to production equipment.

#14429 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Depress pedals to collapse drums after processing is complete.

physical manipulation — Tire assembly is heavy manual dexterity work

Assemble tires.

#14419 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Wind chafers and breakers onto plies.

physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment

Load materials into production equipment.

#14420 · Supplemental · 6% automatable

Pull plies from supply racks, and align plies with edges of drums.

physical manipulation — Aligning parts for assembly needs hands and judgment

Align parts or workpieces to ensure proper assembly.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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