The air-filled or pneumatic tire consists of a core filled with airtight sealed pressurized air. Typically, a tread made with reinforced steel belting or other materials, seals this inner core and provides the contact part with the road.
Since the pressure of the air inside the tire is greater than atmospheric air pressure, the tire remains inflated even with the weight of the vehicle resting on it. The air pressure in the tire gives resistance against forces that attempt to deform the tire. When the tire hits bumps in the road, this gives the tire a slight degree of a cushioning effect. If you have experienced taking a ride in an old-fashioned carriage that had wooden wheels, you know exactly how big of a difference a set of pneumatic tires could make.
Pneumatic tires also come with drawbacks. High-performance situations or highly dangerous applications for instance, these tires can suffer a puncture and this would result in a total failure. The consequence of a blowout at high speeds can lead to a serious car crash. Military planners have to take into account tires getting blown out by gunfire or explosion shrapnel. A vehicle crew's worst nightmare is becoming trapped in a fire zone because of all of their tires becoming flat. Airless tires obviously don't suffer from these type of issues and thus, in certain applications, may be more suitable.
Pneumatic tires have one more issue involving variations in tire performance and air pressure. Lower tire pressure could create increased comfort and improved traction. This is because of the fact that tires flatten slightly and more tread is placed in contact with the road. The pressure of the air inside of the tire works to maintain the lateral stiffness of the tire as well as maintain the "up and down" stiffness. Thus, less air pressure enables the sidewalls of the tires to flex. Unfortunately, this leads to poor handling. Within an airless tire, the stiffness in those two dimensions is independent.
There are other problems with air pressure. Consumers are notoriously unreliable when it comes to maintaining correct air pressure. Tires that have wrong air pressure can lead to unsafe situations. It is very essential to note that pneumatic tires are prone to temperature changes too, which can be responsible for changing the internal tire pressure. It is very important to consider the type of environments you would be needing your equipment to operate in so that you could check the tires regularly and keep the machine as safe as possible.