Hector Bermudez takes a look at creating a simple automated rotating wheel in Maya, like the kind you would find in a quick and dirty car rig. Hector uses the distance tool to get an accurate measurement of the wheels that you are going to use, multiply the height of the wheel by 3.1416, and using that number for the translate of the Driver Object in a Set Driven Key applied to a controller of your choice in Maya.

This is a pretty easy method to get the wheels of a car rotating convincingly without any sliding, however it doesn’t take into account wheel spin for when the car turns.