UPDATED 22:19 EDT / FEBRUARY 19 2017

EMERGING TECH

Ford wants to save drivers from potholes with a crowdsourced virtual map

Ford Motor Co. wants to save drivers from the menace of potholes by designing a virtual map for drivers to find them.

The idea is being researched by Ford’s European division, with testing expected to begin later this year. A map would show drivers on in-car displays in real-time where potholes are and how bad they are, then suggest alternative routes.

Information for the map would be gathered using crowdsourced data from Ford vehicles equipped with cameras and embedded modems that would be able to gather information on potholes in real time and share that data to the cloud. Then it would be made available to other drivers. Yhe company’s Galaxy, Mondeo and S-MAX vehicles already use onboard sensors for “continuously controlled damping with pothole mitigation,” which detects potholes using sensors and adjusts the suspension to help reduce damage.

“A virtual pothole map could highlight a new pothole the minute it appears and almost immediately warns other drivers that there is a hazard ahead,” Ford of Europe Research Engineer Uwe Hoffmann said in a statement. “Our cars already feature sensors that detect potholes and now we are looking at taking this to the next level.”

The company claims that pothole damage is a real problem. Bad road surfaces contribute to more than a third of all accidents in Europe every year at an estimated cost of €1.2 billion ($1.27 billion), according the Forb. A study from the American Automobile Association published in 2016 estimated that pothole damage has cost U.S. drivers $15 billion in vehicle repairs over the last five years.

Ford is not the first company to research pothole detection and sharing systems. Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC announced in 2015 that it was attempting to develop a similar system.

In addition to the research into a connected pothole detection system, Ford said it was also exploring the use of an active suspension system designed to massively reduce the severity of bumps and rough road surfaces.

Image courtesy of Ford

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