Eyes on the Snow: Automating Road Condition Insights with Edge Vision AI

Executive summary
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Snow-covered roads significantly increase the risk of accidents and disrupt essential mobility. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), more than 1,300 people are killed and over 116,800 are injured each year in crashes on snowy, slushy, or icy pavement. Despite this risk, most transportation agencies still rely on manual driver reports and limited sensors to assess road conditions, leaving critical gaps during fast-changing weather events.

To improve safety and situational awareness, one of the nation’s largest Departments of Transportation (DOT) partnered with Nexar and CompassCom to automate snow condition detection using AI-powered dash cams. Nexar’s Vision AI runs directly on the camera, detecting snow coverage in real time. This capability is deployed on state-owned snowplows equipped with Nexar dash cams and across Nexar’s broader crowdsourced network, with all detections aligned to the DOT’s operational categories.

The project began with a 20-vehicle Proof of Concept that captured road imagery under a wide range of snow conditions. Using this data, Nexar’s Vision AI demonstrated the ability to automatically assess snow levels on the road in line with the DOT’s operational standards. With these results validated, the DOT is now equipping its full fleet of 1,800 snowplows with Nexar dash cams, enabling automated snow condition detection at scale for faster response and safer winter roads ahead of the 2025–26 snow season.