Long-Awaited Next-Generation Road Damage Detection and Localization System is Finally Here

With the ever-increasing emphasis on road maintenance to a high standard, the need for automated and robust road damage inspection (detection and localization) systems is becoming greater than ever. In this paper, we introduce a realtime road damage inspection system, which has been embedded in a drone to reconstruct 3D road geometry using stereo vision, as well as to detect and localize road damage using disparity map segmentation and visual simultaneous localization and mapping. In addition, the 3D road map is built and updated, which enables road damage inspectors to assess road conditions in a more convenient way.