Self-driving Volvos can’t cope with roos

Volvo has announced that more than a year into its kangaroo avoidance study its autonomous driving technology is struggling to detect kangaroos on our roads.

The Swedish brand announced back in October 2015 that it had commenced, what it claimed was, the first Australian research study into kangaroo detection and collision avoidance but, more than 18 months later, Volvo has been forced to admit its Large Animal Detection system is still failing to identify kangaroos.

Speaking to ABC, the Swedish car maker's tech boss for Australia said: We've noticed with the kangaroo being in mid-flight when it's in the air, it actually looks further away, then it lands and it looks closer".

This behaviour is said to confuse the Volvo tech and fool the system into thinking the kangaroo is a smaller less harmful animal.

In extreme circumstances, a case of mistaken identity could see cars in the future that are fitted with self-driving hardware not deviate from the path of an impact.

Volvo, meanwhile, says it will use the data it's gathered to redesign and develop a new radar and camera detection system that will, in the future, not only identify kangaroos but apply the brakes and steer the car to avoid a collision.

Known for their erratic behaviour and danger on the roads, kangaroos are involved in more than 20,000 collisions on Australian roads each year, costing more than $75 million in claims according to the NRMA.

Volvo, whose stated mission is to prevent anyone dying or being seriously injured in any of its current models by 2020, says the human cost of serious injuries and fatalities caused by animal collisions is incalculable.