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Driverless Cars In Australia Facing A Roo’ing Problem — Kangaroos Throw Off Animal Detection Systems
Driverless cars while being tested in Australia have come across a problem, as the hopping movement of kangaroos confuse the animal detection software.
With the future of motoring all set to go the autonomous way, automobile manufacturers are now testing autonomous cars in various countries across the globe to make sure their roads are capable of handling these cars. Volvo recently ran into a problem while testing their autonomous cars in Australia. A problem that is unique to the country.
The animal detection system built into autonomous cars is being thrown off, by the way a kangaroo moves. These cars use the ground/road as a reference point to detect pedestrians and animals crossing the road, and unlike kangaroos, pedestrians and other animals generally walk/run across the road.
Reports have quoted Volvo Australia's technical manager David Pickett as saying, "We've noticed with the kangaroo being in mid-flight, when it's in the air, it actually looks like its further away, then it lands and looks closer."
The way it moves is not the only problem, the problem is also in detecting the shape of a kangaroo, as, it changes shape while sitting at the side of the road, while it is standing, and while it is hopping. The animal detection software was first tested in Sweden with Moose as the animal subject but is now creating a problem with kangaroos in Australia.
The issue would not delay the introduction of autonomous cars in Australia, but has to be solved before the introduction. The kangaroo problem is not something new, and should not take us by surprise, as even before autonomous cars came along, Thousands of kangaroos were being killed every year in road accidents.
Australia is the 6th largest country in the world by area, but the 53rd largest by population. What that means is, vast areas with little or no population exist in the country. Some roads passing through such areas barely see a few vehicles going by every day, and hence, animals, especially kangaroos (which Australia has large numbers of), jump out on the road without a care in the world.
According to the National Roads and Motorists' Association in Australia, more than 16,000 collisions with kangaroos happen in a year, and this is in cars driven by humans who can detect the exact shape of a kangaroo. These figures show exactly why it is important for manufacturers to dial in the codes for the software to recognise kangaroos before these cars are let loose in Australia.
Other than kangaroos, the other problems faced by autonomous cars in Australia are, the long road-trains that ply its roads and the unsealed roads and unmarked highways. All these are scenarios and objects that autonomous cars would face only in Australia, and hence the car needs to be programmed with all this information.
DriveSpark Thinks!
With autonomous technology being implemented across the world, manufacturers will be facing various challenges and obstructions unique to a country. What would they face in India? Motorists driving/riding in the wrong direction? Cows which refuse to budge? Jaywalking pedestrians? Maybe all of them. We will have to see when autonomous cars get here.
Images from: ABC
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