Technology that will identify the locations of potholes, broken drains and manhole covers in the road, and share them with other vehicles and road authorities, is being developed by Jaguar Land Rover.
It is hoped Pothole Alert will be developed to the point that it can automatically adjust a car's suspension to reduce the impact of known road imperfections.
Mike Bell, global connected car director at JLR, said: "By monitoring the motion of the vehicle, and changes in the height of the suspension, the car is able to continuously adjust the vehicle’s suspension characteristics, giving passengers a more comfortable ride over uneven and damaged road surfaces.
“While this gives our customers a more comfortable ride, we think there is a huge opportunity to turn the information from these vehicle sensors into ‘big data’ and share it for the benefit of other road users.
"This could help prevent billions of pounds of vehicle damage, and make road repairs more effective.”
JLR will be working with Coventry City Council to research how best to share the information with road authorities.
The company is also developing a 'self-learning' car that monitors, and then predicts, the driver's preferred media sources and regular telephone calls.
The technology uses a new learning algorithm that recognises who is in the car from their phone or key fob, and then learns their preferences.
The calendar, time of day, traffic conditions and weather all enable the technology to predict the driver's behaviour. It takes two weeks for the algorithm to make its first predictions.
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