US Patent 11544863 Systems and methods for surface monitoring

Implementations described and claimed herein provide systems and methods for surface monitoring. In one implementation, a target surface ahead of a vehicle is illuminated with light emitted from at least one light source. Image data of the target surface is captured from returns collected by at least one imager. At least one surface property of the target surface is measured using the image data. A set of friction metrics is generated from the at least one surface property. An estimated coefficient of friction for the target surface is determined from the set of friction metrics.