How the Volkswagen Group is Enhancing Driver Safety Across Millions of Vehicles with Real-Time Road Surface Data

About Volkswagen Group

The Volkswagen Group, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. The Group includes ten brands — Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, ŠKODA, SEAT, CUPRA, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche and Ducati.

With around 675,800 employees, Volkswagen Group produces roughly 40,000 vehicles every working day and sells vehicles in 153 countries. Its software company CARIAD develops the digital platforms and connected services used across the Group’s vehicle fleet.

One example is the Local Hazard Information (LHI) service, co-developed with NIRA Dynamics, which enables vehicles to share real-time information about hazardous road conditions.

The Challenge

Road slipperiness is a highly localized phenomenon. Black ice can form on one side of a bridge while the road surface just a few hundred metres away remains safe. Conditions can appear and disappear within minutes and vary significantly between nearby locations.

Traditional driver warning systems typically rely on ambient temperature readings or regional weather forecasts. While useful, these systems are too coarse to capture the true variability of road conditions. They warn drivers about large areas rather than specific road segments and cannot distinguish between a road that is merely cold and one that is actually slippery.

The Volkswagen Group identified this gap as an opportunity to improve safety across its connected vehicle fleet. The challenge was to detect real-time road surface conditions with high precision and deliver relevant warnings to drivers at scale — using existing vehicle hardware and without compromising driver privacy.

The Solution

In 2020, the Volkswagen Group and its software company CARIAD partnered with NIRA Dynamics to deploy Road Surface Alerts (RSA).

The solution is built on NIRA’s Road Surface Information (RSI) technology, a software component integrated into the existing chassis control systems of series-production vehicles. By analysing data from standard onboard sensors such as wheel speed and acceleration, RSI calculates the friction between the tires and the road surface in real time. No additional hardware is required.

Anonymized friction data from connected vehicles is aggregated in the cloud, where NIRA’s RSA service validates and maps potential hazards. When multiple vehicles detect low friction or rough road conditions at the same location, the system generates a hazard alert.

These alerts are distributed through the Local Hazard Information (LHI) service to approaching Volkswagen Group vehicles. Drivers receive warnings in the cockpit for situations such as:

• Slippery roads and black ice

• Aquaplaning conditions

• Potholes and rough road surfaces

• Heavy rain and reduced visibility

“The harsh conditions this winter show how relevant real-time information from the vehicle fleet is. We enable drivers to respond appropriately to the highly dynamic development of road slipperiness — and thereby increase overall safety.”
Sebastian Franke, Product Owner Chassis & Road Conditions, CARIAD

All data is fully anonymized and processed in compliance with GDPR and the EU Data Act. It is technically impossible to draw conclusions about individual vehicles or drivers.

The service is deployed across multiple Volkswagen Group brands including Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT/CUPRA, Škoda, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini.

The Results

By integrating NIRA’s Road Surface Alerts into its Local Hazard Information service, the Volkswagen Group has expanded its ability to provide drivers with real-time safety information.

The scale of the system became particularly visible during the severe European winter of 2025/26. Between December and January alone, more than 2.54 million slipperiness alerts were generated in Germany from a network of over two million connected vehicles — a sevenfold increase compared to the previous winter.

Through this system, the Volkswagen Group can:

• Deliver hyperlocal hazard warnings to millions of drivers

• Warn drivers before they reach dangerous road conditions

• Automatically scale the system as weather conditions become more severe

• Build a real-time “grip map” of road conditions that supports future ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities
  
  

“Our customers get real-time safety information that helps them make smarter driving decisions. Whether they are driving in icy conditions or on rough terrain, the Connected Friction project adds an extra layer of safety.”
Marc-René Kiene, Technical Project Leader LHI, Volkswagen