what ever you’ve crossed paths with a kangaroo in the middle of the road? I don’t either. But yes I have found with cows, and even deer, and I imagine that in Sweden it will be very common to have to dodge a moose, or a reindeer. That is why Volvo has moved to Australia to study the behavior of the kangaroos and to create the first assistant of driving designed to avoid violations of kangaroos. Curious, don’t you think? But as we will see below we talk about a technology that can save many lives, and not only of these cute marsupials.
Volvo has created systems of detection of animals specially calibrated for cows, elk, reindeer, and now kangaroos.
According to the automobile association australian, in Australia there are more than 20,000 kangaroos living in the vicinity of roads. Don’t give us numbers of crashes, injuries or deaths related to these meetings are not desired, but the financial amount of the cost to insurers, up to 75 million australian dollars (more than 48 million euros) each year.
Figures that maybe go with a better understanding of the existing problem and how important it is to take advantage of the technology, which is relatively inexpensive, to avoid the serious consequences of these outrages. Think that in Australia, some varieties of kangaroo can weigh up to 85 kilograms and measuring about 2 meters in height.
The technology is based on radar and cameras, the same ones that are already present in its range of products.
of the knowledge Of the behavior of these animals, Volvo aims to design a system that is able to detect kangaroos, and make your car slow down automatically to avoid a collision. A task that is not easy, given the unpredictable nature of animals living in freedom.
To do this use the radar system perimetric, and cameras, to recognize the presence of the animals. These systems are already present in the range Volvo, and have been refined particularly in its latest model, the Volvo XC90. With a appropriate software of image recognition, the car of Volvo may be able to predict with some precision the risk that an animal is abalance on our car. Volvo ensures that your processing system, once it has detected the danger, it takes only 0.05 seconds to react. The reaction time of a human would be around 1.2 seconds.
Volvo recalls would have already done so with larger animals, and more slow in their movements, such as cows, reindeer and elk. His idea is to go to refine the technology to adapt to other kinds of animals, like kangaroos, which are no less dangerous.
This technology, which is intended to be integrated in your package of driver assistance City Safety, it also includes a very ambitious project by the who Volvo wants to commit to that in 2020 their cars are infallible, proof, accident. And make sure that no one dies in a Volvo. What they will get?
Source: Volvo
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