Honda’s road condition monitoring system detects bad road markings and asks the authorities to fix them

Modern cars are equipped with a number of cameras and sensors that Honda wants to use not just for driver assistance systems.

In collaboration with the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Honda Research Institute will run a pilot program to help government agencies maintain roads more efficiently, cost-effectively, and in a timely manner.

To this end, Honda has developed a new “road condition monitoring system” that uses a vehicle camera to detect the condition of lane markings. Road markings in good condition are color-coded green, acceptable road markings are color-coded yellow. Road markings in need of repair are given a red code, while areas without road markings are given a gray color code.

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This information as well as GPS coordinates and relevant images or videos are then anonymized and sent to the road maintenance authorities. The data should enable them to quickly determine the location and severity of poor road markings so that they can be corrected.

That sounds like a win-win situation, because the system relies on technology already installed in vehicles and promises to make the roads safer. Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jack Marchbanks also suggested potential savings when he stated, “We regularly inspect our roads … and act quickly to fix any problems,” but it is a “labor-intensive process.” By automatically detecting and reporting problems with photo or video evidence, cars could reduce the need for manual inspection and surveillance of roads.

The Honda Research Institute is also investigating how this information can be exchanged between vehicles so that driver assistance systems can be optimally adapted to different lane marking conditions. This information could also be used to warn drivers in advance of problems, such as when they might need to regain control of the vehicle due to poor lane markings.

Honda plans to expand the system’s capabilities in the future to include more than just lane markings. The details are not given, but it is easy to see how the system could be used to identify and report potholes.