Decentralized Road Conditions Assessment for Smart Mobility Management in Abu Dhabi

Mobility management is crucial for urban planning, and accurate road condition information is necessary for safe and efficient transportation. In the context of this study, mobility refers to the quality of the road and the level of service provided to road users. To this end and to advance the state-of-the-art in improving mobility management strategies, we propose a new capability for our ongoing work on the Decentralized Road Traffic Monitoring (DRTM) system: road conditions assessment, aimed at enhancing mobility management for Abu Dhabi city. Our DRTM system uses smartphone cameras, Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANETs) on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mode, and federated learning to extract and classify road features, such as potholes, cracks, and accidents, impacting overall mobility. The system comprises a smartphone app and a decentralized network of participants, providing real-time insights about road conditions. Our experimental results demonstrate the system’s effectiveness in providing precise and up-to-date information about road conditions, with increased scalability and efficiency compared to centralized methods. By utilizing federated learning, the system ensures data security and privacy.