Operation principle of the predictive road condition services
Up to the automation level of highly automated driving, it depends, among other things, on the road type, the speed range and the surrounding conditions, whether a vehicle can take over a driving task from the driver. In the future, an automated vehicle will make this decision based on the predictive road condition services from Bosch. These innovative services provide the system with real-time information about the environmental conditions and associated potential hazards such as aquaplaning, ice or snow long before a critical situation occurs. By this, an automated vehicle knows exactly if, where and how it can drive on its own.
Bosch uses weather data for the realization. Unlike weather forecasts in the media, the predictive road condition services take several possible forecasting scenarios into account. With a worldwide reference fleet and machine learning algorithms, critical conditions can be accurately predicted and localized, maximizing the safety, availability and comfort of automated driving.
Consequently, the system can adapt its driving behavior to the respective conditions, choose a different route or ask the driver to take control.
As the number of networked vehicles in the market increases, the service based on weather data will be supplemented with vehicle data. Examples of such information are temperature, wiper activity, road wetness or the control interventions of the ESP® anti-skid system. The connectivity enables to transmit this information to the cloud via the back-end of the car manufacturer. All data combined and intelligently evaluated results in the predictive road condition services - and a good feeling of being safely on the road.
Read more in our press release about how weather data, information from roadside ice-detection systems and other data build the basis for predictive road-condition services.
