Honda completes road maintenance system pilot with Ohio

Honda and DriveOhio completed a two-year pilot project testing an automated road condition detection system across approximately 3,000 miles of Ohio roadways. The Honda Proactive Roadway Maintenance System achieved 99% accuracy for damaged signs, 93% accuracy for damaged guardrails, and 89% average accuracy for potholes.

The project was funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation and conducted with partners i-Probe Inc., Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN), and the University of Cincinnati. Honda test vehicles equipped with vision and LiDAR sensors monitored roads in central and southeastern Ohio under various weather and traffic conditions.

The system detected potholes, faded lane markings, road roughness, damaged guardrails, signs, and shoulder drop-offs. Data was processed through Edge AI models and transmitted to Honda's cloud platform for analysis, then integrated into Parsons' iNET Asset Guardian system to generate prioritized work orders for maintenance teams.

ODOT operators reviewed road deficiencies in real time through web dashboards. The automated detection could save ODOT over $4.5 million annually by reducing manual inspection time, optimizing maintenance schedules, and preventing costly deferred repairs, according to the project team.

"This Proactive Roadway Maintenance System also creates a safer environment for our workers while they gather the critical information and data needed to ensure Ohio's highways are maintained," said Pam Boratyn, ODOT Director.

Honda has been developing the prototype system since 2021 as part of its global safety initiative. The company plans to explore scaling the system for real-world operations and enabling customers to contribute anonymized data from their vehicles to improve road conditions.

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