Google Cloud: Could Self-Healing Potholes Reduce Emissions?

There aren’t many things nearly everyone can agree on, but the annoyance of potholes is probably one of them.
From monsoon rain-battered roads in Asia to countries with extreme freezing conditions, potholes are a problem around the world.
The UK has the worst quality roads in Europe which comes at a cost of £143.5m (US$176.1m) to the country every year.
Asphalt is needed to fix these holes, but a substantial portion of carbon emissions from roads is linked to asphalt production alongside pollutants like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.
But what if the holes could just fix themselves?
A team of scientists from King’s College London and Swansea University in collaboration with scientists in Chile might have figured out how to do just that using Google Cloud AI tools.
"In our interdisciplinary study, we are bringing together experts in civil engineering, chemistry and computer science to investigate the self-healing properties of a modified bitumen," explains Dr Jose Norambuena-Contreras, an expert in Self-Healing Asphalt at Swansea University.
“By combining this knowledge with the state-of-the-art AI tools of Google Cloud, we aimed to enhance our understanding of bitumen’s healing capabilities through a bottom-up molecular design approach.
“We are proud to be advancing the development of self-healing asphalt using biomass waste and artificial intelligence. This approach positions our research at the forefront of sustainable infrastructure innovation, contributing to the development of net zero roads with enhanced durability."
How do potholes form?
Asphalt is a semi-solid petroleum-based material made of aggregates and bitumen.
Bitumen is a sticky substance and byproduct of crude oil made up of primarily carbon, hydrogen and sulphur.
Cracks in roads occur when bitumen hardens through oxidisation, but the exact processes behind this are unknown.
Potholes form when water seeps into these cracks, and can worsen when it is frozen and thawed repeatedly.
The team of researchers found a way to reverse this cracking and develop methods to stitch asphalt back together.
How can AI help with potholes?
The researchers used machine learning AI to study organic molecules in complex fluids like bitumen.
The team created a data-driven model to accelerate atomistic simulations, computation methods that model the behaviour of materials by simulating the interactions between individual atoms.
Alongside this, the team is collaborating with Google Cloud to simulate the behaviour of bitumen on a computer.
Dr Francisco Martin-Martinez, an expert in Computational Chemistry at King’s College London, says: “In our research, we want to mimic the healing properties observed in nature. For example, when a tree or animal is cut, their wounds naturally heal over time, using their own biology.
“Creating asphalt that can heal itself will increase the durability of roads and reduce the need for people to fill in potholes.
“We are also using sustainable materials in our new asphalt, including biomass waste. This will reduce our dependence on petroleum and natural resources.
“Biomass waste is available locally and everywhere, and it is cheap. Producing infrastructure materials from local resources like waste reduces the dependence on petroleum availability, which helps those areas of the world that have limited access to petroleum-based asphalt.”
To create self-healing asphalt, the researchers incorporated tiny porous materials known as spores that are smaller than a strand of hair and made from plants.
They then filled these spores with recycled oils which are released when the asphalt begins to fracture, reversing the cracking process.
In laboratory experiments, this advanced asphalt material was shown to completely heal a “microcrack” on its surface in less than an hour.
While still in development and yet to be published, this research could reduce the amount of asphalt produced, and therefore emissions from its production, by stopping potholes before they need filling.
Iain Burgess, UKI Public Sector Leader at Google Cloud, says: “We first worked with Dr Francisco Martin-Martinez when he joined the Google Cloud Research Innovators Programme in 2022, providing him access to Google experts, technical resources and training to support his research.
“Now, it is inspiring to see how teams at Swansea and King’s College London are unlocking the power of cloud-based and AI tools, including Gemini and Vertex AI, to drive more efficient processes and discover chemical properties.”
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