Jaguar Land Rover Announce Innovative Pothole Research

It may not be the sexiest announcement in motoring history, but it’s one that goes right to the heart of an everyday problem. Coming to the rescue of every motorist, ever, Jaguar Land Rover have declared war on our perennial pothole problem, by announcing that they will commence research to detect, predict and share data on potholes.

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Using connected car technology, they will gather data about the terrain and relay this to the car’s controls, allowing it to adjust settings so that passengers have a smoother ride. As Dr Mike Bell, Global Connected Car Director, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Our MagneRide equipped Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport vehicles feature sophisticated sensors that allow the vehicle to profile the road surface under the wheels and identify potholes, raised manholes and broken drain covers. 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.”

In addition, Jaguar Land Rover’s research team will be working with innovation partner Coventry City Council to understand how road profile information gathered by this technology could be shared with road authorities, and exactly what data would be most useful for their roads maintenance teams to identify and prioritise repairs.

In other words, Jaguar Land Rover are striving towards a world in which you could not only avoid pothole damage and punctures, but also help the road authorities fix them so other motorists don’t encounter the same problem. Perhaps that is a sexy announcement after all.