The car that avoids kangaroos

Volvo has announced plans to create a car that will automatically avoid collisions with kangaroos.

The new technology, which already exists in Sweden, will mean future Volvo cars will autonomously detect stray wildlife and brake to avoid a collision.

The cutting-edge system will react three times faster than human intervention, according to Volvo, and could help to drastically reduce the number of animal related accidents.

Already able to detect cows and horses in Europe, the technology is essentially an extension of existing pedestrian detection systems.

Volvo plans to study the movements of kangaroos to tailor the system to Australian conditions.

At high speeds, Volvo says the system will automatically slow the car to speeds slower than 70km/h should it detect an animal.

After first alerting the driver by applying the brakes, the car will then predict the path of the animal to reduce the impact or avoid it all together.

Volvo says at high speeds the system will reduce the likelihood of an animal breaking through a car’s A-pillar or entering the cabin through the windscreen.

The system is just one part of a host of new technologies created by Volvo to achieve its goal of zero deaths or serious injuries in its cars by 2020.