Black ice, an invisible yet dangerous layer of ice, poses a substantial hazard for vehicles and pedestrians due to its low detectability. This study presents the design, experimental validation of a laser-based optical sensor for ice detection as well as ice thickness measurement. Utilising Snell’s Law and light propagation principles, the system reliably identifies the presence and thickness of ice across varied surface conditions, achieving a mean relative error of under 9% for ice thickness measurements. Three improved sensor models were subsequently developed. Laboratory and field tests confirm the methods performance on real and simulated surfaces such as a smooth surface, sand, stones, concrete and lake-like ice.