Swedish automaker Volvo Car Group has partnered with the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen) for a pilot project that involves sharing road friction information using cloud-based system.
As a part of this project, the real-time data about slippery patches on the road will be shared from individual cars to alert vehicles nearby within a cloud-based system.
When a Volvo test car detects slippery patch, it shares the data through a mobile phone network to the company's database. The company will transmit an alert to other vehicles that are approaching the area.
An application installed in the vehicle will alert the driver about the severity level based on the vehicle speed and the present road conditions.
Volvo Car Group intelligent transport system project leader cooperative Erik Israelsson said that the pilot is one of the first practical examples of the way communication between vehicles over the mobile network enables vehicles to 'speak' to each other and with the traffic environment.
"This can contribute to making traffic safer. We have 50 test cars on the roads, and next winter the fleet will grow considerably. Our aim is to make the technology available for our customers within a few years," Israelsson added.
In addition, the data will be sent to the road administrator to support them in winter road maintenance and quickly address changed conditions.
