Artificial intelligence checks the condition of the roads

This is called the “Independent Road Inspector” and is already used by institutions such as the Madrid City Council, the District Council of Gipuzcoa or the Government of Extremadura.

Ebon Arcalde, CEO of this technology startup, Explains to DGT Until now, a “manual” inspection consisted of driving the same road every day to detect defects.

“Sight and memory are the main tools of traditional inspectors. They take pictures of items that need repair and get into dangerous situations once they are on the road. Through our system, the car moves at normal speed and detects and records all evidence of defects on public roads. Devices and cameras are being placed in vehicles that frequently roam the area in order to make the system more sustainable as well. In addition, greater transparency is achieved with the infrastructure manager because there is evidence of all changes that occur on the way.

Those responsible explain that each public road, depending on its characteristics, requires a different quality standard and procedures. “On a highway or concessionaire, potholes or marks must be fixed in a very short period of time. The higher the speed allowed by the road, the more demanding the quality standard becomes. Moreover, this system allows us to respond immediately to any problem in the urban environment and it is not necessary for a neighbor to complain to discover that something is not right. “Another important thing is that by analyzing the data, we can know, for example, why some areas of pavement deteriorate more than others and what type of paint is best for road markings.”

Arishald explains that his system allows monitoring traffic signals, road markings (lines, symbols, letters), guardrails and sidewalks. Everything is done with artificial vision through on-board sensors that detect anomalies on the roads. “Any vehicle we equip with two devices can become a road inspector. These devices collect images and data using sensors and then that data is processed and analyzed.”

The technology developed by this technology allows us to detect violations on public roads that escape the human eye; This is on any type of road and highway, including highways and traditional roads.

Its services currently cover automatic inventory of signs, monitoring of permanent and temporary signs installed in work zones, detection of accidents on the road surface and road markings, impact projections, inventory and defect detection in protective barriers. In addition, it is also possible to record the presence of water, ice, wind, fog and snow on public roads.