Skip to main content

Nira Dynamics rolls out a new safety solution for increased driver awareness

In an effort to reduce the number of accidents caused by slippery road conditions, Swedish companies Nira Dynamics and Infocar Training have equipped a fleet of 80 vehicles with software for detecting road surface conditions in real-time. Road surface information (RSI), developed by Nira, continuously monitors the quality and tyre grip level of the road surface, without stereo cameras, adaptive suspension or other expensive sensors. Using sensor fusion based algorithms, RSI determines the level of road r
March 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
In an effort to reduce the number of accidents caused by slippery road conditions, Swedish companies Nira Dynamics and Infocar Training have equipped a fleet of 80 vehicles with software for detecting road surface conditions in real-time.

Road surface information (RSI), developed by Nira, continuously monitors the quality and tyre grip level of the road surface, without stereo cameras, adaptive suspension or other expensive sensors. Using sensor fusion based algorithms, RSI determines the level of road roughness and friction.

By integrating Infocar’s friction software, which plugs into the standard interface on passenger cars available since 2001, Nira is able to collect and distribute real time road condition information and transmit it to a back-end cloud server.

By connecting RSI to a cloud service, road data can be distributed to other vehicles, enabling drivers to adapt their driving style or change routes as they receive information about upcoming hazards or dangerous situations.

Related Content

  • UK drivers get real time traffic information boost
    August 9, 2012
    The UK Highways Agency is trialling a system to add commercially available traffic data to its existing sources to monitor how well traffic is flowing on England's motorways and strategic roads. Similar data sources are already used by satellite navigation devices, smartphones, and applications like Google maps. Better real-time data will allow agency staff to respond more quickly to incidents and identify delays and communicate them to drivers so they can take alternative routes if necessary.
  • Infrastructure and the autonomous vehicle
    December 12, 2014
    Harold Worrall ponders the effect of autonomous vehicles on transportation infrastructure. For the last century the transportation industry has been focused on the supply of infrastructure to support the ever growing fleet of vehicles and the greater number of miles covered by each vehicle. Our focus has been planning, funding, designing, building and maintaining roadways. Politicians, engineers, planners, financial managers … all of us have had this focus. We have experienced demand growth since the first
  • Plug and play approach unifies workzone ITS
    July 18, 2012
    Caltrans District 7 is finalising a ConOps document which will detail a plug-and-play to work zone ITS operation. The organisation's Allen Z. Chen elaborates. Before August is out, on current planning, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 7 (which covers Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, with a combined population of close to 11 million people) intends to have finalised a Concept of Operations (ConOps) document dealing with Work Zone Transportation Management Systems (WZTMS). The
  • Vehicle identification systems aid dynamic bus operations
    April 24, 2013
    David Crawford looks at a global trend towards more efficiency in less space As buses gain increased profile in the public transport mix needed for modal shift, attention is turning towards improving terminal layouts for more efficient handling of services and passengers. Locations, too, tend to be in central areas of cities, where sites are restricted and land values high. Enter the dynamic bus station, which uses modern vehicle identification systems to optimise space use and streamline service operation