AI could stop potholes becoming a menace to motorists

The council is using Robotiz3d’s patent-pending ARRES EYE in the trial, which is placed on a roof rack at the back of a vehicle to scan road surfaces and identify potholes, cracks, and areas of weakness across the county’s road network.

Defect dimensions, location, and severity level are displayed on a remote screen in near real-time, helping highways engineers to plan road resurfacing programmes and pothole fixes more effectively. Hertfordshire County Council’s Highways engineers have been collaborating closely with scientists from Robotiz3d to help refine the technology, which started as a research project at Liverpool University in 2016.

After initial trials and testing on a short route in 2024, the ARRES Eye is now back in Hertfordshire for a long-term test.

The Eye will be used to survey a trial route multiple times over a period of several months using its laser technology to read the road surface and look for tiny changes as cracks widen in the cold and wet winter weather.

By identifying such small changes and tracking them over time, the team aim to be able to identify the early warning signs of deterioration.

The technology is still in the early stages of development but, if successful, it could allow the council to identify 'future potholes' and fix them before they form. Tracking how defects in the road are changing day to day and week to week will help highways teams decide where to send crews, what type of maintenance is required and which routes to prioritise first.

“We know that our residents care about roads and pavements in the county and the changeable weather we’ve had over the last few months, including excessive rainfall and long periods of colder weather, all contribute to potholes appearing and a decline in road surfaces,” said Phil Bibby, executive member for Highways at Hertfordshire County Council. “We know the challenge of fixing potholes will remain and we will continue to tackle this through our Highways Maintenance schemes, but we also know that prevention is better than cure – so trialling technology like this that can prevent potholes forming in the first place is also an important part of our long-term strategy.”

ARRES EYE can collect data from a vehicle when travelling up to 60mph. It scans one lane at a time with a field of view up to 3m, and can be used 24/7 in any weather conditions.

The technology can also analyse the geometry of potholes, collecting measurement data as it operates. Using AI, it couples this data with a prediction algorithm that will enable local authorities to predict road conditions accurately, allowing them to prioritise preventative road maintenance.

In 2021 Robotiz3d secured a two-year SMART grant award from Innovate UK, which gave the company ‘substantial funding’ to help accelerate the development of its automated pothole detection and maintenance system.

Currently in development, the company’s Arres Ultra is a semi-autonomous vehicle that detects and seals road surface cracks and repairs potholes. A similar solution, Arres Prevent, is claimed to be the world’s first semi-autonomous vehicle that detects and seals road surface cracks to prevent potholes from forming.