The air-filled or pneumatic tire consists of a core filled with airtight sealed pressurized air. Usually, a reinforced steel belted tread or other type of materials, seals this inner core and provides the contact part with the road.
Because the air pressure inside the tire is more than atmospheric air pressure, the tire remains inflated even with the weight of the vehicle resting on it. The air pressure in the tire provides resistance against forces which try to deform the tire. This gives the tire a slight degree of a cushioning effect as the tire hits bumps in the road. If you have ever taken a ride in an old-fashioned carriage that had wooden wheels, you know how huge of a difference a set of pneumatic tires could make.
Pneumatic tires also come with disadvantages. Highly dangerous applications or high-performance situations for example, these tires can suffer a puncture and this would result in a complete failure. The consequence of a blowout at high speeds could result in a dangerous car accident. Military planners have to consider tires getting blown out by explosion shrapnel or firing of guns. A vehicle crew's worst nightmare is becoming trapped in a fire zone due to all of their tires becoming flat. Airless tires obviously don't suffer from these kind of issues and hence, might be more suitable in certain applications.
Pneumatic tires have one more problem 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 in the tire works to maintain the lateral stiffness of the tire as well as maintain the "up and down" stiffness. Therefore, 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 issues with air pressure. Customers are notoriously unreliable when it comes to maintaining correct air pressure. Tires which have improper air pressure could lead to unsafe situations. It is important to bear in mind that pneumatic tires are prone to temperature changes too, that can be responsible for changing the internal pressure of the tire. It is vital to take into account the kind of environments you will be requiring your machinery to operate in so that you could regularly check the tires and keep the machine as safe as possible.