Ford will commence testing a clever new crowd-sourced virtual pothole map later this year.

The map will work in real-time, making drivers aware of potholes and how bad they are via their in-car displays, while also suggesting alternate routes.

In the UK alone, local authorities receive a pothole damage claim every 17 minutes - with costs averaging £432. Back in 2011, around 20 million potholes were reported in Europe, but only half of them were filled, at an estimated cost of over €1.2 billion.

"A virtual pothole map could highlight a new pothole the minute it appears and almost immediately warn other drivers that there is a hazard ahead," explained Uwe Hoffmann, a research engineer for Ford. "Our cars already feature sensors that detect potholes and now we are looking at taking this to the next level."

Models such as the Mondeo, S-Max and the Galaxy already use on-board sensors for Continuously Controlled Damping with Pothole Mitigation - which adjusts the suspension to help reduce any potential damage.

Ford engineers are now researching the use of cameras and embedded modems at the automaker's Research & Innovation Center in Germany. The goal is to gather detailed information on potholes and beam it into the cloud, where other drivers can access it in real time.

smartty68:
Nice tech though but the car go detect pothole for here until the system begin malfunction

SweetBoyFriend:

I haven't seen potholes inn my 9 years of living in the USA

They do road maintenance every Thursday because of the fear of lawsuit, someone will intentionally jump into the pothole and then sue the city for $4 million

diportivo:
Between sagamu and ore,the warning go sound through out the journey

SweetBoyFriend:

I haven't seen potholes inn my 9 years of living in the USA

They do road maintenance every Thursday because of the fear of lawsuit, someone will intentionally jump into the pothole and then sue the city for $4 million

Eazylion:
we don't Dodge porthole in my country, we just choose the one we enter.