Smarter Roads

Drive down a three-mile stretch of Interstate 94 in Michigan and you might think it’s just nicely renovated, with a smoother road surface and more lights. But it’s actually Cavnue’s vision of the future. The company spent $15 million installing sensors every 200 meters that observe and analyze road conditions and traffic flow in real time. “It provides, through a software platform, a set of insights back to the governments that own the roadways,” that will help speed improvements and repairs, says Tyler Duvall, CEO of Cavnue, who adds that eventually the system will be able to inform connected human-driven and autonomous vehicles of road issues. A second project is being installed on State Highway 130 right outside Austin, Texas, with another planned for Savannah, Georgia.