I watched a documentary on NHK regarding the use of cameras and AI to detect black ice on roads. While I generally detest many of the new "safety" features being implemented in cars, this one may actually be nice to have, especially at night.

You're still the best safety but this wouldn't be a bad tool to have if it catches something you missed.

Interesting that they have a dedicated Civil Engineering Group for Cold Regions (ie - snowy regions like Hokkaido and north / west regions of Japan).

My eyeballs have never let me down. If the temperature gauge is below freezing and you can see light reflecting off of the pavement, it might be ice. Drive accordingly.

Generally agree. When in doubt, treat wet as ice. Still, I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to have a second set of eyes.

Now, if you're driving carefully and this thing keeps alarming, that probably would get annoying pretty quick.

In any case, they are gathering a lot of emperical data to build the AI models for this.

Years ago when I was still driving a tanker, I would watch the rear tandems on the trucks ahead of me. If there was a mist coming off of the tires it was wet. No mist, black ice.Best technology we had at that time.

Tis one of the benefits of rear wheel drive. If your ass starts to slide out a bit...slow down.

Tankeryanker's method works well as well.

Oh, and turn off all driver assist/traction control mechanisms. The only thing they help you do is get into the ditch.

quote:

Originally posted by tankeryanker:
Years ago when I was still driving a tanker, I would watch the rear tandems on the trucks ahead of me. If there was a mist coming off of the tires it was wet. No mist, black ice.Best technology we had at that time.

You are very wise. I watched the same. Drove tractor trailers for thirty five years with no accidents.
Pay attention, stay alert, It's not rocket science. Spend thousands more for a failure prone sensor you don't need.

Having lived my entire life in an area known for this condition I've gotten quite good at knowing what the outside conditions are that creates the black ice. I know when I back out of my driveway if black ice is likely to be on the highways. I can't count the number of times people have sped past me and within a few seconds I see headlights, taillights then headlights again and then a big poof of snow flies into the air when they hit the ditch.

Recently the Department of Transportation installed a barrier to keep people from crossing the median into oncoming traffic when they spin out. The problem is they put the barrier which consists of wooden timbers with three runs of braided steel cable through them just off the left lane shoulder. So now when cars hit that and after they get the front end ripped off their car they are often thrown back into traffic that's coming behind them. All they needed to do was to move the barriers twenty more feet into the median and any car hitting that is not going to be thrown back into any traffic travelling in either direction. It was obvious to everybody right from the start. How a team of engineers could not see something so obvious and simple does not give me much faith.

If it's below freezing and the roads aren't bone dry, assume there's ice and drive accordingly. When in doubt, give the brakes a gentle tap and see if you slide.

It's not that hard, and I don't need AI or a computer to do it for me. I'd rather they spend the money on more salt and overtime for the plow guys to actually make the roads better than expensive systems to tell me what I already know and do nothing to mitigate it.

I’m in the camp of cold temps, damp roads could lead to ‘black ice’. Seemed to be a bigger deal when I lived in WA State. Here in the Midwest, more just ‘icy’ or slippery conditions.

My cars already put a warning on the display if the temperature is near or below freezing.

Black ice is where you find it. It can be very patchy, and when you detect it, it is too late to do anything radical. With luck, the road is straight and level so you can gradually slow down, meaning if conditions are conducive to black ice you should already be going slower.

Black ice is not the same as shiny sheet ice. That can be seen. Black ice looks like black dull pavement and can't be visually discriminated from pavement.

Just wait until the black ice detector gets control of the engine and brakes. It will cause more accidents than it could ever prevent.

Black ice days, turn off the radio and listen for water in the wheel well. You want to hear the water hitting it, when you do not, it is black ice. This has saved me a coupe of times being able to know the driving conditions.

quote:

Originally posted by tankeryanker:
Years ago when I was still driving a tanker, I would watch the rear tandems on the trucks ahead of me. If there was a mist coming off of the tires it was wet. No mist, black ice.Best technology we had at that time.

Me, liking a post!