Road Surface Conditions

Combining vehicle data and road weather models for next generation ADAS and safety applications.

March 14, 2021

This is RSC

Designed to make cars smarter and roads safer, Road Surface Conditions combines and assesses data from connected vehicles, RWIS, radar/satellite images and weather prognoses to provide a real-time picture of the road status – with unmatched data coverage. This, in turn, helps enable SAE Level 2 and 3 vehicle functions in all kinds of weather and road conditions.

Safer roads by smarter cars

01
Proactive road perception
The car in front of you is speeding up. You’re not. Why? Well, because the road ahead is deceivingly slippery – and the car knows it. Even if you don’t. And soon, as you enter that rough, pothole-infested stretch that there’s no way of going around, you can rest assured your car is prepared for that, too.
02
Combining data is key
Designed to make cars smarter and roads safer, Road Surface Conditions combines and assesses data from a number of reliable sources – this could be anything from other connected vehicles to Road Weather Information Systems, radar/satellite images and weather prognoses – to provide a complete, high-resolution real-time picture of the road status.
03
Enabling dynamic ADAS functions
From low friction to high friction, potholes and speed bumps, Road Surface Conditions can alert the driver to just any changing road conditions. But that’s only the beginning. It also enables dynamic ADAS functions such as Automatic Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking, Regenerative Braking and 4WD activation. Dynamic being the keyword here – because with Road Surface Conditions, actual road properties are taken into account.
04
It all comes down to data
Ultimately, whether it’s about saving lives or simply providing a smoother ride, it all comes down to data. Knowing everything there is to know about the current road conditions, anywhere and anytime. That’s what Road Surface Conditions is all about.

RSC at a glance

Crowd sourced car data
The core of Road Surface Conditions. Current aggregated data from TGI enabled fleets provides an up to date view of the grip, the roughness and detected obstacles in the road network.
Road weather models
Enables us to close the gaps between measurements, increase coverage off-peak during some weather conditions by using historical car measurements and to forecast conditions.
Onboard measurements
With TGI in the receiving car the map data can be combined with local measurements as well as tire information, optimizing performance when a pure cloud service is not ideal.

RSC put into use

Adaptive Cruise Control
Adjust or restrict the distance between vehicles based on actual grip and/or pavement condition.
Curve Assist
Adjust speed before entering a hazardous curve.
Highway Pilot
Allow user to engage highway pilot based on actual conditions on an adequate stretch of road ahead, adapting the speed of the vehicle based on low or high friction.
Navigation
Routing, route optimization and ETA calculations based on road roughness and the current road conditions.
Electrical Vehicles
Recuperation strategies based on the actual grip and road conditions, to improve charging and driver experience.