Bridgestone offers fleet operators AI powered way to monitor road conditions

Bridgestone Mobility Solutions has launched Bridgestone Road Conditions to help fleet operators better understand the state and quality of the roads they use.

Bridgestone Road Conditions provides information on the state of the road network using aggregated and anonymised data from Webfleet-connected vehicles.

The service offers two solutions that help identify the location and severity of road damage, as well as visualise various road assets, which Bridgestone said can play a significant role in increasing road and driver safety.

The Road Damage Detection solution identifies road anomalies by analysing anonymised and aggregated data leveraged from connected vehicles, which are equipped with Webfleet’s fleet management solutions. Using sensors and vehicle data, this service can accurately determine the locations of road damage, such as potholes, cracks and patches.

The artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm used by the solution enables the severity of road damage to be defined, helping drivers and fleet owners reduce the risk of accidents, as well as prevent damage to tyres and vehicles.

The Road Asset Visualisation solution provides intelligence on roads and infrastructure by analysing multiple connected vehicle sensor as well as camera data.

Vehicle-mounted cameras use Edge AI capabilities to process data directly on the device in real time, ensuring data privacy by uploading only anonymised data to the cloud for further analysis. Road assets and characteristics such as road signs, traffic lights and lane markings can be visualised and flagged if they are damaged, vandalized or blocked by vegetation.

Raghunath Banerjee, vice president of data solutions at Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, said: “Bridgestone Road Conditions can help increase road safety and comfort by providing real-time data insights on road damage that allow preventive road maintenance, infrastructure planning and optimised traffic flow.

“These advanced data solutions will play a fundamental role in the digital transformation of future mobility, enabling development of smart cities, mobility-as-a-service providers as well as connected and autonomous vehicles.”