Rijkswaterstaat · Unihorn · The Netherlands
Managing road condition across a national highway network requires more than collecting data. The information needs to remain consistent across thousands of kilometres, while experienced inspectors need enough time to focus on the assessment and interpretation that require their expertise.
In the Netherlands, Unihorn uses Inspech as part of its professional road inspection workflow. By 2025, approximately 80% of the Dutch national highway network had already been inspected using Inspech.
This provides a substantial foundation for a more scalable approach to visual road condition assessment.
The Dutch main road network covers approximately 8,000 kilometres of road and more than 20,000 lane-kilometres.
At this scale, maintaining a current understanding of road condition is an ongoing challenge. Road imagery needs to be processed and assessed consistently across routes and regions, while inspection capacity and specialist expertise remain limited.
Simply collecting more imagery does not solve that problem. The challenge is turning that imagery into structured information that inspectors can review efficiently and use within their existing professional workflow.
Unihorn combines its road inspection and engineering expertise with Inspech's AI-assisted inspection platform.
Road imagery is organised within a georeferenced inspection environment. Inspech helps identify visible surface defects and presents recommendations for review. Inspectors then validate and interpret the findings using their professional judgement.
This creates a clear division of responsibilities: the technology supports the processing and organisation of visual inspection information, while inspectors remain responsible for the assessment.
The resulting information can then be used by Unihorn within the wider road investigation, reporting and maintenance-planning process.
By the time the joint Unihorn–Inspech proposition for Rijkswaterstaat was prepared in 2025, approximately 80% of the Dutch national highway network had already been inspected using Inspech.
The significance of that coverage goes beyond the individual inspections.
Each inspection contributes to a georeferenced record of visible road condition. When inspections are repeated, this creates the basis for comparing conditions over time and understanding where changes are occurring across the network.
Instead of treating every inspection as an isolated assessment, the accumulated information can gradually provide a more continuous view of the network.
Road condition cannot be understood from visual information alone.
Measurements such as LCMS, IRI, FWD and skid resistance continue to provide important engineering information about pavement condition and performance. Inspech does not replace these methods or the judgement of pavement professionals.
Its role is different.
Inspech helps make visual inspection information easier to process, review and revisit. This allows experienced inspectors to spend more of their time on validation and interpretation rather than repetitive image handling.
For a large road network, that distinction matters. Scaling inspection should not mean removing expertise from the process. It should help apply that expertise where it adds the most value.
The work already completed by Unihorn demonstrates that AI-assisted visual inspection can be applied across a substantial part of a national road network while keeping professional inspection expertise in control.
With approximately 80% of the Dutch national highway network already inspected, the next opportunity is not simply to collect more data. It is to build on that existing foundation through recurring inspections.
More frequent observations can help road organisations understand how visible conditions develop between major engineering surveys, identify where attention may be needed, and maintain a more current picture of the network.
Over time, that supports the wider objective of road asset management: intervening at the right moment, making better use of maintenance resources and preserving the value of the road network.
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