AHEAD: camera and laser read the road ahead of salt trucks

Statens vegvesen (the Norwegian Public Roads Administration) has tried the system in the “Ahead” pilot project with Mesta and Klimator in Salten and Sunnfjord. The spreader version is called Saltera Adaptive Dosage and is in the test and evaluation phase.

What AHEAD is

Klimator describes AHEAD as a patented sensor fusion technology that uses a camera and laser to describe the actual conditions on the road ahead of a moving vehicle. In a quarterly report from 2024, the company calls it a computer vision product that can “see” what type of slippery conditions lie ahead of the vehicle. According to Klimator, the technology is the result of over ten years of research and development in road condition classification.

TU wrote in 2022 that AHEAD was developed primarily for the automotive industry. Klimator writes that the same technology can be used for inspection rounds on the road network, and in 2024 the company, through its partner SARSYS ASFT, secured an agreement for two AHEAD systems for one of the largest airports in Europe.

How far ahead of the vehicle

Sources give different figures for the range. Global Highways wrote in September 2022 that AHEAD can read the road conditions in real time 25 metres ahead of the vehicle. TU wrote in November the same year that the system calculates and visualises upcoming road conditions up to 50 metres ahead of the vehicle. Klimator's annual report for 2025 states that the system reads the conditions across the whole lane ahead of the vehicle. Ask the supplier which range applies to the equipment you are being offered.

Forecast and measurement together

AHEAD does not replace the forecast; it supplements it. On Saltera's campaign page, condition-controlled salting is described in three steps:

Klimator calls this starting with the plan and fine-tuning along the way: an on-board solution uses measurements of the road to adjust compatible spreaders in real time. Statens vegvesen describes the same thing from the snowplough truck: the system measures friction and road conditions while the truck is driving, and adjusts the salt rate automatically based on real-time data and forward-looking forecasts.

Statens vegvesen also writes that preventive salting, before hoar frost or ice films form on the road surface, is most effective. AHEAD reads the conditions that are there when the vehicle passes, while the forecast says something about what is coming. How the forecast is made and sent to the spreader is described in Klimator and Saltera and forecast-controlled gritting.

• A high-resolution forecast is downloaded to the vehicle, as in forecast-controlled salting.
• A camera that “sees”, combined with an optical laser, measures the road conditions while the vehicle is driving.
• Based on the forecast, the combined data stream is used together with a salt table to adjust the spreader.

The pilot in Salten and Sunnfjord

TU reported on 4 November 2022 that Statens vegvesen and Mesta had entered into an agreement to test new technology for more automated winter maintenance. The national roads in Salten in Nordland and Sunnfjord in Vestland were chosen as test areas. Mesta was responsible for operating the national roads in the two areas, and Statens vegvesen provided financial support. The test period was to run over three winter seasons. Mesta had entered into an agreement with Klimator to start using AHEAD.

Statens vegvesen writes on its website that the laser, camera and sensors on the snowplough truck read the conditions on the road, interpret the road surface conditions and adapt the salt rate in real time. On an undated page, the agency writes that Mesta will use the Ahead system “from the coming winter season” in all four vehicles in Salten that salt roads with a bare-road standard, and that within a few years the technology will be in use in all of Mesta's maintenance contracts across the country. It does not say which winter is meant, or whether the plan has been carried out.

When the pilot started, TU wrote that test results from Sweden indicated that salt quantities could be reduced by between 20 and 30 per cent. The figure comes from Swedish tests and was published before the Norwegian test winters.

AHEAD has also been tried in Sweden. In the research project “Prognosstyrd dynamisk vinterväghållning”, the sensor was installed in the Enköping pilot area in the winter of 2022/23, to see whether road condition data can be used as forecast data.

How far the product has come

So ask what has been delivered and tried on the same type of vehicle and spreader as yours, not just what is planned.

• Klimator writes that in 2025 several commercial pilots were carried out with AHEAD, a solution that controls the salt spreader in real time according to the current road conditions.
• In March 2026 the international launch of Saltera Ahead began at the PIARC Congress in Chambéry. There, Klimator was to present a study of how AHEAD measurements in the salt truck automatically adapt the spreader to the conditions.
• In the half-year report from August 2026, Klimator writes that the development of Saltera AHEAD is in its final phase.
• The product page for Adaptive Dosage says “In test and evaluation phase” and “Available from 15 October 2026”. The campaign page says that the product is in the POC phase (proof of concept) with contractors in Sweden and Norway and is expected to be launched as a finished product in the winter of 2026.

AHEAD and Falköping spreaders

Saltera lists Falköping / Friggeråkers as a partner for Adaptive Dosage, together with Epoke, and writes that the system can be integrated with other spreaders on request. Falköping, for its part, writes that its forecast-controlled spreading has been developed exclusively for, and is available together with, its own control system and Panel PC. So check with both Klimator and us what is possible with your spreader.

Falköping's disc spreaders can be fitted with IR automation as optional equipment. It doses salt and brine according to the road surface temperature, with four dosing curves for different road conditions, and the display shows road and air temperature. See the control systems and data collection for the Falköping spreaders. The choice between dry salt, pre-wetted salt and brine is covered in dry salt, pre-wetted salt or brine.