Winter can mean icy conditions and constant challenges in traffic. In its road maintenance work, the Swedish Transport Administration is now taking help from the vehicles on the country's roads. Measurement data collected via the cars will be able to provide status updates regarding, for example, slippery conditions or the need for snow removal.
Previously, measurements were made 3,000 times per year. Now we receive 300 million measurement points during a year, which means a very big difference and significantly better precision, says the Swedish Transport Administration's Director General Roberto Maiorana at a press conference.
The vehicle data in winter road maintenance has been developed together with the vehicle manufacturers and Sweden is now the first in the world to use this technology.
"We buy this data from different suppliers and can, for example, see what friction there is on the road surface. We can use the data for both monitoring and analysis," says Roberto Maiorana.
The initiative comes at the same time as the requirements for winter tires on heavy vehicles are being tightened. As of today, Monday, heavy vehicles, such as buses, trucks and their trailers, must drive with winter tires – regardless of whether there are winter road conditions or not.
The new rule applies between November 10 and April 10.
This is a change that is being made in light of the experiences we have had from traffic incidents in recent years, says Minister of Infrastructure and Housing Andreas Carlson (KD).
