TURIN: Italian startup Easyrain has announced a new investment round that will enable it to industrialise its unique Aquaplaning Intelligent Solution (AIS) system, which will be "production ready" by the fall of 2024.
Easyrain is taking part in the July 13-16 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is using the event as a platform to announce updates on its product offerings.
It said it is is partnering a major Tier-1 company in the automotive industry to drive the industrialisation and production of the AIS system.
Easyrain said its AIS is the first and only active system that changes road conditions and immediately makes them safer.
It sprays a controlled jet of water in front of the front wheels to eliminate excess water on the road, restoring the contact between the tyres and the road surface.
The AIS is fundamental for traditional or autonomous vehicles, as it saves lives and dramatically reduces accidents in hazardous driving situations, including aquaplaning.
The AIS works in conjunction with Easyrain's Digital Aquaplaning Information (DAI) software, which detects tyre contact with wet road surfaces. It enables innovative safety functionalities for ADAS and assisted/autonomous driving, such as automatically adjusting the speed of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) in low-grip situations.
Scheduled for production in late 2025, DAI is claimed to be the ultimate solution for addressing the challenges of autonomous driving on hazardous or low-grip surfaces.
Easyrain is working on integrating new features into DAI, including snow, ice, pothole, and gravel detection, and have plans to introduce a feature that assesses inaccurate wheel alignment, enhancing both driving safety and vehicle efficiency.
The company hopes that this will make DAI an essential tool in extending the range of electric vehicles and reducing CO2 emissions. The DAI software operates independently without dedicated components, Internet connectivity, or cloud access.
