Finnish Researchers Develop Black Ice Detection Network

A new interactive warning system developed in Finland can detect and alert drivers when they encounter "black ice" conditions and report the danger to approaching vehicles.

The technology was developed by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland for commercial trucks, but the group says the system can be fitted to vehicles of all sizes and types.

The system deduces the road's slipperiness in real time by looking for differences in rotational speeds between a vehicle's driveshaft and freely rotating axles. It then alerts the driver with a warning light, voice signal or by displaying text or a symbol.

The technology also transmits its findings to a central service that combines it with input from other similarly equipped vehicles to create a dynamic map of changing road conditions. The service can then transmit alerts as needed to each participating car and truck.

VTT says the service can transmit warnings to special monitoring device built into the vehicle or send its reports to smart phones, local radio stations or roadside warning signs.

The system has successfully completed field tests and is ready for commercialization, according to VTT. It says it is in negotiations now with EC-Tools Oy, a Finnish provider of vehicle fleet management tools, which helped evaluate the technology.