Smart roads: How intelligent surfaces can warn you of hazards round next bend

Norway’s roads authority is working on ways of making driving safer by using live traffic information provided by the road surface itself.

A pilot intelligent transport system project in the high north, where roads are covered with snow and ice in winter, is testing a novel way of using optical-fiber cables. Instead of carrying data, the fiber works as a listening device to map passing traffic.

The Public Road Administration’s (PRA) basic idea is that the light signal in the fiber is altered slightly by vibrations from passing vehicles.
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