'Connected car technology' is a phrase you're going to hear much more of as the industry makes the move towards - gulp - autonomous cars. Here it is again in JLR's latest initiative, the 'Pothole Alert' research will allow cars to "identify the location and severity of potholes ... and then share this data in real-time via the cloud with other vehicles and with road authorities to help them prioritise repairs."
Pothole repairs currently total £2.8bn
Of course the cynics amongst us will say a lot more than this will be required for local authorities to fix potholes but it appears an encouraging step. At present Land Rover is using Magneride-equipped cars to identify potholes, these cars of course able to continuously adjust as imperfections are crossed. The next stage will be to install road surface sensing tech, so that the suspension could be prepared for potholes before it reaches them. Taken one step further towards full vehicle autonomy, the tech could guide a car around a pothole without leaving its lane or slow the car to minimise the impact.
Furthermore, the research plans to share pothole information via the cloud, meaning your car could be slowed following a pothole warning from another vehicle. Spooky. The research team has actually partnered with Coventry City Council to "understand how road profile information could be shared with road authorities". With an image and GPS location, there would be no excuse to leave potholes unrepaired, right? Right?
It's of course early days for the technology but an interesting development in the connected cars story. Anything to mitigate the effects of potholes sounds a good idea!
here.