Methods and systems for generating and using a road friction estimate based on camera image signal processing

A system for generating and utilizing a road friction estimate (RFE) based on vehicle camera image processing, comprising:

• a vehicle camera configured to provide an image of a road surface;
• and
• a memory storing machine readable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the system to:
• segment the image into a plurality of patches;
• transform a perspective of the image;
• quantize each patch of the plurality of patches to determine a probability of a given road surface friction condition based on an image analysis of each patch of the plurality of patches;
• classify groups of the plurality of patches based on their determined probabilities to generate an RFE for the road surface;
• and
• one or more of:
• (1) alert a driver to a road surface friction condition, (2) report the road surface friction condition to a vehicle network, and (3) one or more of limit and modify a vehicle operational parameter responsive to the generated RFE for the road surface.