Over the last three years, Tracker South Africa has collaborated with specialists from the Civil Engineering Department in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology at the University of Pretoria, to examine the quality of South Africa’s roads.

The objective is to understand if sensor data from the company’s telematics devices can be used to determine the quality of local and international roads.

The Tracker Road Quality Service is designed to offer accurate road quality information, in real-time, with the potential to make a meaningful contribution to various industries in the road transport sector.

“The service will improve road safety and comfort for all road users,” says Michael du Preez, an executive for product innovation and marketing at Tracker.

“It will not only inform customers about the condition of a specific road but also warn them timeously about potential road hazards like potholes and other anomalies,” he explains.

The company plans to use the information to enhance its route planning feature, recommending alternative roads for people intending to travel along unfamiliar or potentially hazardous routes.

The information collected should be of interest to a number of transport enterprises, specifically those transporting sensitive goods.

Not only can damage to fragile cargo be prevented, the information could also have a positive impact on vehicle maintenance costs.

Du Preez believes it will also benefit roads agencies and authorities responsible for maintaining the country’s road infrastructure, culminating in more convenient, safer journeys.

Tracker has a global patent application pending on the product and has engaged with the relevant partners on the commercialisation of the service.

The first version of the service is envisaged to be released in the first quarter of 2017.