Autonomous Highway Maintenance Robot Swarm RoadBot Pilots on Germany's A9 Highway: Overnight Unmanned Road Repair
The RoadBot robot swarm deployed by Germany's Federal Highway Research Institute completes the first overnight unmanned road repair pilot on the A9 highway, with 3 robots repairing 47 potholes in 8 hours.
Autonomous Highway Maintenance Robot Swarm RoadBot Pilots on Germany's A9 Highway: Overnight Unmanned Road Repair
Germany's Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) announced on July 30 that its RoadBot autonomous highway maintenance robot swarm completed the first overnight unmanned road repair pilot on the A9 highway. Three RoadBot robots autonomously detected and repaired 47 road potholes during the traffic lull between 11 PM and 7 AM.
Each RoadBot is equipped with a road 3D scanner, AI crack detection system, and automatic asphalt repair device. The robots first scan the road surface to identify damaged areas, then automatically cut out damaged pavement, clear debris, fill with asphalt mix, and compact it. Each pothole repair takes approximately 8 minutes — four times faster than manual repair.
BASt plans to deploy RoadBot across Germany's national highway network by 2031. Germany's highways total approximately 13,000 kilometers, with over 500,000 potholes requiring repair each year.
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