Google could track potholes to help you avoid them down the road

[Arty]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/25/9207275/google-pothole-tracking-cars-gps

 

Google has filed a patent for a way to track potholes across the United States, using your car's GPS navigation system and other sensors to detect damaged portions of a road, put that information into a database, and then use it to determine a less bumpy route.

 

Google could monitor the vibrations your car is subjected to when you rumble over a pothole, and cross reference that with GPS data — something that is standard on most cars these days. By doing this in many cars, Google could pinpoint where potholes have sprung up while also canceling out anomalies. All that data would then be used to alert drivers about damaged roads and suggest a way around them. (Hi, Google Maps.)

 

GOOGLE COULD POINT YOU IN A SMOOTHER DIRECTION

The more data that can be collected about potholes and road damage, the better, because the country's infrastructure is flailing and underfunded. America loses an estimated $87 billion annually in lost time and fuel thanks to overcrowded roads. Potholes play a part in this: they create traffic, cause accidents, and damage vehicles. And, as Gizmodo points out, Google has a fleet of autonomous cars that it would love to introduce to all this data.

 

While the idea is novel, Google is certainly not the first to attempt something like this. The city of Boston has been running a program for the last few years called Street Bump that essentially does the same thing. The local government uses the crowdsourced data to alert riders to the location of potholes, assign crews to fix them in the short term, and plan longer-term investments to revamp stretches of road. The difference here is that Street Bump is a mobile app that collects data from drivers' phones. Google's idea, should it ever come to fruition, would likely be more detailed and more reliable.

TL:DR

google wants to put potholes on google maps so your car doesn't break!

 

 

LIVING IN MICHIGAN, This would be a blessing to have.

[Kherm]

This would be a blessing to have in Pennsylvania. Our DOT is literal shit. 

[rtpb5642]

Amazing. Very much needed in Toronto.

[manikyath]

welcome to belgium, where you drive trough potholes to avoid the terrible condition the road is in.

[amdart11]

Hah that wouldn't work here in Quebec, it'd probably tell you to get off the road entirely and walk, I hate those nid de poules. 

[Monkey Dust]

The Merc S-Class scans the road in front of the car and prepares the suspension for the bumps & potholes ahead, apparently it works freakishly well. Using google maps on your phone would be a lot more affordable though.

[werto165]

If you set it up correctly I could see something like this being incorporated into the google maps app, accelerometer and GPS are already in phones, surely not too tricky after that. major flaw would be if you picked up your phone whilst driving tho. 

[Swndlr]

This would be a blessing to have in Pennsylvania. Our DOT is literal shit. 

This would be a blessing to have in any state

[ZetZet]

If I was trying to avoid potholes I would never come back home.

[jameshumphries47]

we dont need this in the uk. we just have one pot hole, THE WHOLE THING. drive on the roads and you will either do damage to shock absorbers, or get a puncher

[Darkman]

@Arty @tmcclelland455 You all know you can't avoid potholes here in Michigan... My road at the stop sign is literally with so many potholes YOU WILL hit them.

[Bob Jim]

I used to live in Mauritania (Africa for you people who don't know geography >.<) and the roads there were mostly sand, but the few Tarmac roads were built in like 2000 and never repaired. The road was 1 giant pothole, lol.

[Jerakl]

Good luck doing that in edmonton.

[shymi]

Uh, I have a feeling, that, when they start doing this in Bulgaria, after the first kilometer the cars will display a big "NOPE" message on the dashboard and automatically turn around to escape....

[Dabombinable]

This might be useful in Australia, and it could also help get the bloody things sorted out.

[Scruffy90]

This would be bad in NYC. It's bad enough we have to play dodge the taxi a lot of the times, imagine trying to dodge the people dodging potholes while dodging the taxi drivers.

[Lethal Seraph]

Then this wouldn't be fun anymore... 

 

[Kherm]

Then this wouldn't fun anymore... 

 

 

Sums up my state perfectly.

[Trik'Stari]

Could we just put Google in charge of maintaining the roads? They'd certainly do a better job than the state DoT's do.

 

Also, am I the only one who can see Google becoming something like Weyland-Yutani down the road?

[Speedbird]

If Microsoft did this, the title would be

"Windows 10 tracks your location using your car's GPS"

[Dabombinable]

Could we just put Google in charge of maintaining the roads? They'd certainly do a better job than the state DoT's do.

 

Also, am I the only one who can see Google becoming something like Weyland-Yutani down the road?

If they do, things will go to shit and they'll be bought out by Wallmart.

[Kyuubixchidori]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/25/9207275/google-pothole-tracking-cars-gps

TL:DR

google wants to put potholes on google maps so your car doesn't break!

 

 

LIVING IN MICHIGAN, This would be a blessing to have.

lets put it this way, you can get a 200$ ticket here for skateboarding or swearing. yet its 100% acceptable to cross a double yellow in front of a cop to avoid potholes. yay michigan 

[blackadder]

If they do, things will go to shit and they'll be bought out by Wallmart.

hmm who has more money? Walmart employs close to 1% of america already.

[Dabombinable]

hmm who has more money? Walmart employs close to 1% of america already.

Weyland Yutani had shitloads in the movies, so yeah.......it would take a lot of fuck ups, but it could happen.

[blackadder]

Weyland Yutani had shitloads in the movies, so yeah.......it would take a lot of fuck ups, but it could happen.

2 people so far know the yutani part, im impressed. I really don't care who governs me, as long as they don't do a shit job about it. For science.

Weyland was big but im not sure how big. Mucher bigger than walmart and google. They did have to hide the lab in aliens 3? The one where clone ripley has a alien baby.