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Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

theguardian.com

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Re: Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the general feeling about taking the meat after a collision? Where I grew up, people would butcher the animal if it's not terribly destroyed. Around here there's a wild hog problem, which are edible but not very tasty, so the local wildlife agency picks them up and they're used in soup kitchens to feed the homeless.

If you hit a kangaroo (I have only ever had a side on collision where the kangaroo jumped into the side of my car and bounced off) you need to get out and check if it has a live joey (baby kangaroo) in its pouch. You are not allowed to keep the joeys, but there are organisations that will take them in and raise them enforce release back into the wild.

Note: If you see a kangaroo (or any marsupial) dead on the side of the road, if it has a pink squiggle spray-painted on its side, someone has already checked it for a joey - so you don't have to try stick your hand into a gooey mess.

Re: Volvo admits its self-driving cars are confused by kangaroos

#72

Moose must be hard to detect too I wonder how they tested for them. Imagine a 700kg (1,500 pound) moose with velvety brown fur suddenly wanting to cross the road at night in front of your car when you are traveling 120km/h (74mph). That weight is all up high too on spindly legs. It's like running into a high table with 700kg of weigh on it.

Emus have a similar effect - a good amount of mass sitting up quite high on little thin legs. The things punch straight through the windscreen when you hit them.

Emus have the added bonus too of running directly at you when you sound the horn, instead of away as you'd expect. It's quite uncanny, and problematic at a hundred kilometres an hour.

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