Redtail Telematics have been appointed by Synaptiv in a bid to help local councils say farewell to the fearsome pothole by using data collected from Redtail’s ‘black box’ telematics devices that are fitted to vehicles driving on UK roads. The data that is collected can be transformed into an accurate assessment of the road surface that the vehicles are travelling, thereby negating the need for specialist equipment to survey roads once a year or employ inspectors to manually assess damage locations.

Since data is collected and analysed in real time, the Synaptiv solution is able to monitor defects as they appear, allowing them to be repaired more quickly before they pose a risk to drivers or deteriorate and become more costly to repair. The analytics employed by the system also makes predictions on the rate at which a defect may deteriorate, helping councils prioritise repair schedules, said the company.

The solution has been on trial with councils over the past twelve months and successfully validated against traditional road surveying solutions. Recently, the DfT announced it will allow highway authorities to use new technologies for assessing road surface conditions, opening the market to innovative approaches that are not only more performant but can be deployed at far lower cost.

Synaptiv is a connected car platform specialising in transforming the data generated by connected vehicles into smart city insights using artificial intelligence techniques. Data originates from systems embedded on the vehicle, or from an installed telematics device.

For telematics data, Synaptiv partnered with Redtail Telematics, a leading telematics solution provider, with a range of devices capable of recording a wealth of vehicle data. Redtail was able to make customisations to support greater granularity and higher frequency data collection optimised for the road condition use case.

Redtail CEO Dr Colin Smithers said: “We are delighted that Synaptiv has appointed Redtail Telematics in their work to provide the data insights revolutionising the way local councils monitor and repair potholes. Our telematics devices and robust data capture technology ensures that Synaptiv has the most reliable technology to help support their ongoing initiatives with local councils to reduce the cost and manpower when it comes to addressing the plague of UK roads, the pothole.”

Matt Lewis, CEO, Synaptiv – “Working with Redtail has allowed us to accelerate the development of our artificial intelligence algorithms capable of transforming data from connected vehicles into an accurate assessment of road health. It is exciting to see our innovation help local authorities start delivering on the promise of the smart city, with data-driven insights dramatically improving public services and enhancing the quality of life for citizens.”