You probably grew up thinking kangaroos were cute things, what with their big legs for leapin' about and their short arms for boxin'. But really think about them for a second. Is there a nuttier commonplace beast? Deerlike head, oversized rabbit hindquarters, T-rex arms and a freaking pouch to carry around babies or spare change, or, really, whatever the lady 'roo feels like. But the similarity to deer doesn't end with the shape of their noggins. Kangaroos also have a habit of leaping in front of oncoming vehicles. Volvo would like to spare its owners the pain of scraping kangaroo fur out of their automobiles' grilles, so they're Down Under, studying the behavior of the marsupials.
-Of course, Volvo's not the first to take kangaroos into account when designing automobiles; kangaroo crash dummies have been in use in Australia for some time. What Volvo's working on down there is sensor calibration and computer response to kangaroo behavior. Martin Magnusson, Senior Safety Engineer at Volvo Cars notes, "In Sweden we have done research involving larger, slower moving animals like moose, reindeer, and cows which are a serious threat on our roads. Kangaroos are smaller than these animals and their behavior is more erratic. This is why it's important that we test and calibrate our technology on real kangaroos in their natural environment." (As an aside, does being Senior Safety Engineer at Volvo make one the safest person on the planet?)
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Volvo is using the same sort of radar and cameras it employs for pedestrian detection at city speeds. Since most kangaroo-involved wrecks happen on rural highways, Volvo's focusing on nailing 'roo behavior as well as coping with the higher speeds involved. We might not pull the kangaroo bars off the XC90 yet, Australia, but with the company having stated a goal of nobody being killed or severely injured in a new Volvo by 2020, within five years, you'll be able to.
-from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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