The aim of LIRA is to develop a new concept of road survey based on data collected from conventional cars and deliver a platform to road authorities and municipalities where they can have access to the road conditions. Management and maintenance strategy will be supported by consistent data that will allow decision-making department to optimize the use of economic resources, preserve the public asset and guaranty safe roads. By using cars data, it will be possible to have a continuous and live scan of the pavement functional characteristics overtaking the limits of the standard methods.
Many different road properties are collected by lasers that can be used only at dry pavement conditions. Water on top of the pavement surface reflects the light of the lasers reducing the reliability of the collected data. Unstable weather conditions and rainfalls represent a critical aspect for measurements campaign and every year some data cannot be used.
This project represents a breakthrough in the road surveys because any kind of vehicle and fleet, public and private, can contribute on this cause. Rental cars, taxi and busses potentially represent a future way to collect road information over a broader network. In this specific case, the models developed in the LIRA would be used and calibrated in relation to the vehicle type.
Another potential player is represented by insurance companies. Many of them already offer to the customers a discount on the insurance price in exchange for the possibility of installing in their cars a specific hardware that deliver data about the driver behavior. This hardware can be customized and the relative design be addressed by the achievement of LIRA.
Companies operating fleets can improve their business by selling these data. Couriers already monitor their fleets of vehicles and use the data to optimize the tracking of the parcel. Data have been also used to optimize fuel consumption of their fleet studying the driver behavior. So they might just need to adjust the data acquisition focusing on those sensors that are significant from a road prospective.
Road owners and public authorities will have more data at lower price. Road authorities have the obligation to manage and maintain a public asset.
GreenMobility can offer another kind of service expanding their business. Car sharing price can become convenient for both public administrations and customers.