Jaguar Land Rover is currently trialing a new connected car technology that will allow a vehicle to identify the location and severity of potholes, broken drains and manhole covers and further sharing this data in real-time via cloud with other vehicles to prioritize repairs.
As part of the connected car technology, a vehicle becomes capable of receiving warning from other vehicles about potholes or broken manhole covers and tide over them accordingly by adjusting the suspension.
If materialized, the system would be capable of cutting the probability for road mishaps, punctures, wheel and vehicle damage. The cost entailed in vehicle damage due to potholes in the UK is pegged at £2.8bn a year.
JLR global connected car director Dr Mike Bell said: "Our MagneRide equipped Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport vehicles feature sophisticated sensors that allow the vehicle to profile the road surface under the wheels and identify potholes, raised manholes and broken drain covers.
"By monitoring the motion of the vehicle and changes in the height of the suspension, the car is able to continuously adjust the vehicle's suspension characteristics, giving passengers a more comfortable ride over uneven and damaged road surfaces."
Besides, the project at Jaguar Land Rover's Advanced Research Centre in the UK will have its next stage for installing road surface sensing technology in the Range Rover Evoque research vehicle. An advanced forward-facing stereo digital camera will also be attached to it.
JLR will also team up with innovation partner Coventry City Council to find out the nature of data in connection with road profile information that could be sent to road authorities.
Coventry City Council cabinet member for public services Councillor Rachel Lancaster said: "As part of our 'Smart Cities' strategy, we will be investigating how Jaguar Land Rover's Pothole Alert system could supply us with data in real-time from thousands of connected cars right across our road network. This could give us a very accurate, minute-by-minute picture of damage to road surfaces, manholes and drains in real time."
