Cloud-based, Real-Time Pavement Rating Tool Tested

Brief 

Detroit is testing Tactile Mobility’s Tactile Software Processor — a cloud-based technology that provides real-time updates on the condition of road pavement. The system uses a combination of signal processing, microphysical experiments and machine learning to analyze in-vehicle sensor data, which is then used to calculate a rating.

Insight

In Detroit, about 20 city-owned Ford F-150 and F-250 trucks are testing a cloud-based solution that automatically monitors road pavement quality in real time.

The pilot involved the installation of Tactile Mobility’s Tactile Software Processor, which uses signal processing, microphysical experiments and machine learning to analyze data it collects from sensors inside the vehicle, such as tire grip estimation, wheel speed and wheel angle.

With that data collected as the vehicles drive through the city, the technology calculates a rating based on the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system that evaluates road conditions.

In Detroit, the data goes from the vehicles to the Tactile Cloud. The city’s geographic information system automatically pulls it in as a map layer to show in real time where potholes or cracks exist. By comparison, PASER tests are typically done by survey vehicles once or twice a year and produce highly accurate quality scores.

Detroit “saw about an 85% match to the PASER rating that they received from the survey vehicles, and the PASER score that we provide,” said Ido Tsalka, head of business development at Tactile Mobility.

More frequent monitoring, even with lower accuracy, still results in better roads, he added, noting that cities can’t fix potholes they don’t know about. Cost savings is another benefit: ties can catch and patch an alligator crack, or stress fissure in asphalt, at a much lower cost than waiting for it to be discovered and having to resurface the road as a result.

In addition to pavement rating and distress mapping, the processor can monitor for slippery conditions. For instance, another town in Michigan is testing the technology to monitor road slickness, particularly in the winter.