The Hottest Topics in the Asphalt Industry

The asphalt and materials testing industry is advancing at a rapid pace.

Several interesting developments are happening right now in the industry–some even happening in other parts of the world.

Read on to learn about things like:

• Roads that glow in the dark

• Speed bumps equipped with intelligence

• An AI assistant for the asphalt industry

• And more

Glow in the dark roads

Have you ever seen a road that glows in the dark? Probably not, but they may be coming soon to the US. With photo luminescent powder paint for the markings, roadways can glow in the dark, creating safer roads for drivers.

In the Netherlands, a whole highway has been built using this glow-in-the-dark powder paint, proving that this concept isn’t something in the far-off future–it’s happening right now.

Intelligent speed bumps

In today’s world, we have intelligence everywhere–smartphones, smart homes, AI, you name it. But what if speed bumps could also become “smart”?

Meet the intelligent speed bump. It uses sensors on the roadways to detect the speed of drivers. As a car approaches, it will either pop up that the car is going too fast, or it will flatten, allowing the vehicle to pass without having to slow down. 

Why is this new development important? A vehicle burns the most gas when it’s accelerating.

If you’re driving through an area with a lot of speed bumps–like your neighborhood–every time you slow down for those speed bumps, you're burning more fossil fuels. Intelligent speed bumps could be a way of reducing carbon emissions and help make cars more fuel efficient.

Asphalt-GPT?

You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT and may even use it regularly. NAPA, the National Asphalt Pavement Association, has its own AI assistant now, called Hey NAPA (shout out to our friends at NAPA! We love the associations across the country).

The assistant can answer your most daunting asphalt questions. You can utilize their tool by visiting heynappa.com, and typing a question just like you would with ChatGPT. It’s perfect for those newer to the industry, who now have a quick, easy-to-use resource at their fingertips for learning more about the industry.

The PaveScan hits the speedway

You may be familiar with our product, the PaveScan, a tool for measuring density on asphalt. But you may not have heard of the “F1 PaveScan”. One of our partners in Qatar used the PaveScan system to map out the density for an F1 racetrack in Qatar. If you ever get to see the racetrack, you’ll know the density was measured with the PaveScan.

These are just a few samples of new developments happening in the world of civil engineering, but with technological advancements happening like AI, things will only continue to change and improve over time.

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