Land Rover should test pothole detection in South Africa
If you bought that SUV wearing high-profiled tyres to never worry about potholes again, Land Rover is busy with a system that could avoid them altogether – without driver intervention.
Currently Land Rover has successfully managed to build a system that detects the presence of potholes (or broken surface) in time to adjust the suspension to a softer setting, just before the rim-buckling impact. Sorry Land Rover but Mercedes came up with this idea for the S Class and called it Magic Body Control.
However the next step for Land Rover is to use these sensors to take avoiding action, steering the car around potholes safely without leaving the lane, even coming to a complete stop if the pothole is too big. Clearly they have not seen the potholes in South Africa…
Although this is pie-in-the-sky thinking, the piece of information we find the most intriguing is how it will be able to share this data with other road users. Information like pothole location and size could even be shared with municipalities to assist in the quick repair.
Ironic that a carmaker renowned for conquering rough roads has developed this system and if they ever need a venue to give it the acid test, Johannesburg is waiting…
