Honda and Mercedes-Benz declare war on potholes – new LiDAR and suspension tricks aim to soften the blow of government failures

• Honda reveals results of pothole-detecting pilot study
• Project uses existing car camera and LiDAR tech
• Sharing road data could save governments millions of dollars a year

It doesn’t matter where you live, potholes and crumbling driving surfaces have the ability to ruin any road trip or journey. With results ranging from a bumpy ride and damaged suspension components to a full-blown accident, potholes are a major headache for motorists, cyclists and local governments alike. Fortunately, both Honda and Mercedes-Benz are attempting to tackle the problem in two different ways.

Honda recently partnered with DriveOhio, the smart mobility hub of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), on a pilot project that it hopes could help speed up road repairs by harnessing the power of real-time, vehicle-generated data that can detect and report road deficiencies.

The project, which also partnered with the University of Cincinnati, was launched to ...