AI should be used to solve UK’s ‘pothole plague’, says Citroen

Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be used to help combat the issue of potholes on the UK’s roads.

That’s according to Citroen, which has called upon Local Highways Authorities to improve the condition of the UK’s road networks in a new report.

Called the Better Roads Manifesto, it looks at ways that the road network could be improved while making savings of up to £5.5bn by reducing accidents and boosting overall efficiency.

Key parts of the report include the use of AI to report and correct potholes, therefore speeding up repairs. It also calls for greater powers to be given to local highways authorities to ensure ‘utility companies properly repair the trenches they dig’.

The manifesto also calls for the introduction of a five-year plan for road funding by the government, which, it says, would save money for local highways authorities. It also raises the point of creating a national standard for road repairs so that quality is maintained nationwide.

Volunteers should also be used to help increase manpower, the report says, while a road cleaning strategy should be developed to remove surface debris and reduce the risk of punctures or blowouts.

Greg Taylor, Managing Director, Citroën UK, said: “Simply calling for more funding isn’t realistic, so we are suggesting some simple, cost effective and logical steps that national government, local highways authorities and the general public can get behind to give this country the quality of roads that we all deserve.”

The French brand also submitted a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to local highways authorities and found that only a quarter of local authorities sweep all their roads at least once every three months, while some admitted to only repairing a pothole some 357 days after it was reported.