A new Finnish invention for detecting black ice, launched last year, has been taken into use. A recently started two-year project by EEE Innovations Oy, Finnish Transport Agency and Trafi is harnessing 1000 heavy traffic vehicles into a data collecting system for enhancing traffic safety. The number includes buses and trucks to produce real-time slipperiness data through software installed in them, for the benefit of drivers, operators and other road users. The method, developed in cooperation with VTT, allows for slippery road conditions to be detected accurately and even in real time, far more extensively than by methods currently in use.
The patented technology is initially offered for heavy traffic, but the invention can be applied for private vehicles as well in the future.
Joining the system does not in most cases require installing any additional equipment, as it can be implemented by a software update to read the data from the CAN-bus of the vehicle’s computer. The driver guidance system can be installed as part of the software already existing in the vehicle, or it can be installed as a separate entity, including both the driver guidance and slipperiness detection systems.
The project enables slipperiness data to be observed far more extensively than before. Benefits can be expected for road users as well as for road maintenance operators, says Otto Kärki, maintenance and digitalization expert at Liikennevirasto, Finnish Transport Agency.
Real-time slipperiness data is considered a prerequisite for automatic driving to become more common in winter conditions in a larger scale. The solution tested in the project could provide a solution to this problem, says Eetu Pilli-Sihvola, a leading expert at Trafi.
The invention originates from VTT’s heavy traffic research projects, and it has been piloted in one EU-level project, as well as in Finland. The pilot projects indicate considerable savings in fuel costs, in addition to improved traffic safety.
