Honda's Research Institute has unveiled yet another technology that was developed by its scientists. The new tech is described as a road condition monitoring system, and it is meant to help maintain roadways in a more efficient and timely manner.
The technology developed by the Honda Research Institute can gauge road marking visibility. With precise GPS coordinates for each fault it notices, Honda's technology has the potential to let authorities know where the roads need repairs. The best part is that drivers do not have to do anything else to enable this function.
In an ideal world, this system would be entirely automated, and vehicles would notify the road administration through the Cloud, and repairs would be scheduled as soon as the flow of traffic would allow them. That would be faster than these issues are resolved today, but there is still hope.
Honda has announced it started a pilot program in Ohio with the corresponding branch of the Department of Transportation. As of early 2022, Honda vehicles used in the pilot program would send data to the DoT on road conditions, which would lead to an enhancement of road work efficiency.
Do not worry, though, as the data is anonymized, and the authorities will never know what vehicle sent the report. As Honda explains, the tech uses the Honda and Acura Advanced Driver Assistance Systems to gauge road quality and lane marking visibility. Drivers of the vehicles in the trial will be warned if the lane markings are faded or otherwise require repairs.
Unfortunately, it is not clear how many Honda and Acura vehicles have been integrated into the pilot program, which models were selected for it, and for how much time will the program is operational. The good news is that only vehicles with an active Internet connection and the latest Advanced Driver Assistance Systems from Honda are compatible with the technology.
Once they are anonymized, the information will be automatically uploaded to a platform developed by Honda, and road operators will be able to access it to identify the location of the fault, the type and severity of the road condition and hazard information, as well as check everything with a short video and a still image captured by the vehicle's built-in cameras.
As Honda has underlined, this is a pilot project, so this is just the beginning for this system. If other technologies of this kind are implemented by more automakers, we will have more connected vehicles that will be able to issue road hazard warnings to the authorities.
Continuing the idea, vehicles with systems like these will be able to communicate with each other through V2V and V2X technology, and a vehicle could warn others that follow it on the road that the road markings, for example, are incomplete or poorly visible. Other vehicles could warn about potholes, and so on.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News