VW’s “RooBadge” Aims To Reduce Accidents With Kangaroos

In Australia, kangaroos are as much of a hazard to drivers as deer are in United States, probably more so. Kangaroos are involved in 90 percent of animal collisions on Australian roads, so Volkswagen is developing an audio device that will alert kangaroos to approaching danger and get them to move out of harm’s way.

Three years in the making, it’s called RooBadge. It’s being tested in the grill emblems of VW Amarok pickups that creates “a protective audio shield” that deters kangaroos from getting in the road.

The RooBadge is able to emit various predatory sounds via an app in the Amarok’s infotainment system, and which is automatically enabled when a driver arrives in territory normally inhabited by kangaroos.

While not available yet, the RooBadge is already being adapted to scare of other critters in other parts of the world, including deer.

The Amarok is a Ford Ranger-based model that VW doesn’t sell in the U.S.

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Here’s a video VW posted on YouTube explaining RoodBadge…

(Still images culled from the RooBadge video.)