The experts at Volvo are working on developing technology in their cars that will allow them to detect kangaroos and prevent accidents. Kangaroos certainly are not an issue in the United States, but Australia is another story as it is reported by the Australian National Roads and Motorists Association that there are around 20,000 collisions per year in Australia involving kangaroos.
HOW WILL THESE CARS MANAGE TO ACHIEVE THIS
With the way technology works today, absolutely nothing is off limits for companies around the world. Volvo must have full confidence that they can succeed in minimizing the number of kangaroo crashes in Australia. The most important factor in achieving this revelation is studying the kangaroos’ behavior on the road. Volvo Cars, owned by China’s Geely, was stated as saying how a team of safety engineers from Sweden were in Australia’s capital Canberra to film the roadside behavior of kangaroos and collect data for its detection and collision-avoidance software. The company went on to say that the system detects movements through a radar sensor in the car’s grille that scans the road through a high-resolution camera on the windscreen of the car.
Volvo Cars safety engineer Martin Magnusson noted how the company is fully aware of just how difficult kangaroos are to avoid, but how they have confidence in this project. Magnusson specifically stated, ‘Kangaroos are very unpredictable animals and difficult to avoid, but we are confident we can refine our animal detection technology to detect them and avoid collisions on the highway.’ Volvo concluded that when a kangaroo is detected via their sensor that the brakes would engage automatically to stop the car and avoid any kangaroos.
CAN THIS ACTUALLY WORK
As mentioned previous, nothing is impossible in this day and age and with Volvo’s confidence in this project, there is a good chance they will succeed and lower the kangaroo collisions each year in Australia. Now is this to say that they will eliminate all collisions involving kangaroos? Well, I think it is safe to say that that is indeed impossible. There is only so much a company can do to protect their drivers from danger before it becomes up to the driver to do something. However, if Volvo can reduce around 20,000 collisions due to kangaroos each year, then this project should be considered a success. The best of luck is wished to Volvo as they work on protecting their drivers from one of the many dangers that appear on the road, kangaroos.
