Smarter Road Maintenance Starts with Better Data
Pot Hole Warrior turns everyday journeys into accurate, low-cost road surface data using smartphone sensors to understand real-world road conditions.
Road maintenance is still largely reactive
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Most road maintenance decisions are made with incomplete information.
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Inspections are infrequent, specialist survey vehicles are expensive, and public reports tend to highlight only the worst failures. This means deterioration is often detected late after surface quality has already declined and repair costs have risen.
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Without consistent, objective data, maintenance planning becomes reactive rather than preventative. Budgets are stretched, prioritisation is difficult, and smaller issues are left to become bigger ones.
Limited Visibility
Most roads are inspected only periodically, leaving long gaps in understanding surface condition.
High cost of insight
Dedicated survey vehicles and equipment are complex, expensive and difficult to scale.
Reactive outcomes
Maintenance often only happens after damage is obvious, disruptive, and costly.
The insight was already in our pockets
Pot Hole Warrior began with a simple moment: hitting a pothole hard enough for a phone to react, skipping a music track mid-drive.
That jolt made something very obvious. Modern smartphones already contain highly sensitive motion and location sensors, capable of detecting changes in the road surface in real time.
If a single impact could be felt so clearly, what could be learned by quietly collecting that data across thousands of everyday journeys?
“If a phone can feel the road, why aren’t we using that data?”
HOW IT WORKS
Sensor Tracking
We use built-in smartphone motion sensors and GPS to capture patterns associated with road roughness, impacts, and vibration during everyday driving.
Mapping & Analysis
Collected data can be processed and visualised on maps, helping to identify areas of repeated impact, emerging degradation, and potential maintenance priorities.
Actionable Data
Outputs are designed to be shareable with councils, contractors, and researchers, supporting transparency, prioritisation, and evidence-based decision making.
Data is collected passively, designed to scale across many journeys, and intended to complement—not replace—existing inspection methods.
WHO'S IT FOR?
Local Authorities & Councils
Better visibility of road surface condition to support prioritisation, planning, and preventative maintenance.
Researchers & Data Analysts
Access to structured road surface datasets suitable for analysis, modelling, and experimentation.
Highways & Transport Teams
Supplement existing inspections with scalable, low-cost data collected from real driving conditions.
Smart City & Infrastructure Projects
A practical data layer that can integrate with wider mobility, asset, and infrastructure initiatives.
GET INVOLVED
Pot Hole Warrior is currently in active development and early testing.
We’re working with a small number of councils, organisations, and individuals to explore how road surface data can support better maintenance decisions.
If you’re interested in learning more, participating in a pilot, or following the project’s progress, we’d love to hear from you.