A tire transport apparatus includes at least three arms each having an arm main body and a protrusion disposed to protrude outward at a lower part of the arm main body to lift the tire; an arm extension/retraction mechanism configured to move the at least three arms in a horizontal extension/retraction direction; a lift mechanism configured to raise and lower the at least three arms; at least three optical reflection sensors disposed on an outer side of a circle including distal ends of the protrusions when the at least three arms are above the tire and in a retracted state to detect an object below; and a controller configured to determine that one or more arms among the at least three arms are in an inappropriate position, if one or more optical reflection sensors among the at least three optical reflection sensors detect the tire.