Pothole Detection System Patented by Google
A system to detect potholes and report them recently was patented by Google, Forbes reported.
The technology would use sensors on a vehicle, as well as location information, to assist in pinpointing potholes and to help avoid them, the magazine reported.
“Monitoring road quality may be achieved by adding a sensor to the shocks, by use of a vertical displacement sensor present on the head unit,” Google wrote in its patent.
“The signals from the sensors are monitored by the head unit and analyzed to judge the quality of the road by the amount of vertical vibration that is encountered. This data, together with the vehicle’s location, may be transmitted through a mobile network to a central server for distribution in road quality reports and to improve driving directions in mapping software,” according to the patent.
This is not the first time Google has taken on road-condition information. Google News Lab analyzed data from navigation app Waze in which users share real-time traffic and road information and ranked every state in order of the worst road conditions.
Washington, D.C., was ranked as the having the most potholes, and Nevada had the least, according to the data.
