Honda and DriveOhio have teamed up on a new road safety initiative in which Honda vehicles are being used to collect real-time data that can advise about potential issues and road deficiencies before they become a problem. Honda’s Proactive Roadway Maintenance System, which has been in prototyping since 2021, uses "advanced vision and LiDAR sensors" to identify issues such as worn or obstructed road signs, damaged guardrails, rough roads and emerging potholes.

During the pilot, members of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s smart mobility hub drove the test vehicles on around 3,000 miles of road in central and southeastern Ohio. They covered a mix of urban and rural environments, in varying weather conditions and at different times of the day. 

ODOT operators were able to review any flagged road or infrastructure deficiencies in real time using smart dashboards developed by Honda and tech firm Parsons. The University of Cincinnati helped Honda fit the sensors to its vehicles, led the development of the damage detection feature and assisted ODOT during the pilot.

The data collected by the vehicles was processed by Edge AI models and then passed on to Honda’s own cloud platform. The system then automatically generated work orders for ODOT’s maintenance teams in order of priority.

While a relatively small pilot in scope, the Proactive Roadway Maintenance System performed well in the trial across a number of metrics, delivering as high as 99 percent accuracy at highlighting damaged or obstructed signs. Accuracy was 93 percent for damaged guardrails and a slightly lower 89 percent for spotting potholes.

Honda says its technology could also detect high-severity shoulder drop-offs that were easy to miss in a routine visual inspection, while the system also proved reliable at measuring road roughness. The team that worked on the project estimated that if implemented on a larger scale, the automated system could save ODOT over $4.5 million a year.

Honda and its partners are now looking at ways to scale up the prototype Proactive Roadway Maintenance System for real-world use. The manufacturer also says it aims to eventually have similar technology in the vehicles of its customers, who will be able to share their own detection data anonymously and help create safer roads.

Waymo’s fully autonomous robotaxis are now accepting passengers in Miami. The city was one of five named in expansion plans last year, and joins the likes of Phoenix, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area on Waymo’s existing network.

Waymo says that nearly 10,000 Miami residents have signed up so far, and that it will send out invites to new riders on a rolling basis" in the weeks and months to come. The autonomous ride-hailing service will initially cover a 60-square-mile area that includes neighborhoods like the Design District and Wynwood, with Waymo planning to expand to Miami International Airport soon.

Waymo started testing robotaxi rides in Miami in November, without passengers initially, which allows it to spot local potential issues and local quirks, and adjust the driving algorithm so things go smoothly once humans are involved. The company insists that autonomous vehicles are safe and reliable, claiming a "ten-fold reduction" in serious injuries caused by crashes compared to human drivers in its current areas of operation.

Waymo’s Florida expansion will move to Orlando next, with the Texas cities of San Antonio, Houston and Dallas also on the agenda for 2026.