Road surface detection and prediction system for vehicle safety and performance enhancement

Adaptive road surface detection and safety feature activation includes receiving an image captured by a camera, the image comprising a road surface ahead of a vehicle. It further includes providing the image to an image-based road surface condition prediction model that is trained at least in part using physically-sensed traction data. It further includes pre-emptively activating one or more safety-related features of the vehicle based at least in part on an anticipated condition of the road surface predicted by the image-based road surface condition prediction model.