​ FLOATING CAR DATA IN WINTER MAINTENANCE​ - Making roads safer using real-time data from vehicles.​

Date and Time: Wednesday, May 10, 2023: 8:20 AM - 10:00 AM
Location: Keck 100

 

Lead Presenter:  Björn Zachrisson, Product Strategist
Affiliation:  NIRA Dynamics
Social Media Handle:  @bjozac

Lead Presenter Biography

Product Strategist within connected vehicles. Been in the software industry since graduation 2006 with a masters in computer science. Worked in the mobile communication and aviation industry prior of joining NIRA 2015. Before the current position, Björn was responsible for NIRA’s in-vehicle products towards the Volkswagen brand. In the NIRA connected portfolio Björn started out coding the foundation of what is NIRA’s backend today, where data from millions of vehicles are ingested and presented as road information layer. Today the responsibilities are to define the product and business value for connected vehicles in the infrastructure domain. 

Co-Authors

Johan Petersson, Product Manager, NIRA Dynamics AB

Presentation Description 

Winter maintenance is crucial for road safety, but traditional Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) stations can be expensive and have limited geospatial coverage. NIRA Dynamics uses embedded software in over 1.5 million vehicles across Europe, Canada, and the USA to measure road friction and estimate surface temperature. This floating car data provides better coverage, offering valuable insights for winter maintenance operations.

The Swedish Transport Administration and the city of Gothenburg utilize floating car data for evaluating winter maintenance performance. Linköping municipality is investigating virtual RWIS using this data. Real-time data allows immediate follow-up, enabling crews to receive notifications about treatment effectiveness and underproduction.

The underproduction Key Performance Indicator (KPI) detects when winter maintenance requirements are not met, helping identify problematic areas and potential budgetary adjustments. During a project in Gothenburg, a 50% improvement in underproduction was observed between December 2021 and December 2022. Further development of an overproduction KPI could reveal unnecessary salting, improving budget management and reducing environmental impact.

Floating car data has evolved beyond its initial decision-making purposes, becoming an invaluable performance measurement tool for winter maintenance organizations. Like a stopwatch for a runner or a scorecard for a golfer, this performance KPI helps optimize processes, machinery, and tools through objective, real-time information. As vehicle fleets expand, this data-driven approach to winter road maintenance leads to safer roads and more efficient operations.

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