Demonstrating that not every component development is based on years of head office R&D and countless hours of digital design, Volkswagen Australia has created a device to save the lives of kangaroos crossing outback roads. 

It replaces the VW front badge and has been developed by VW and the DDB Group in consultation with the University of Melbourne and WIRES. Called the ‘RooBadge' it aims to reduce collisions with kangaroos, which not only kill or injure the unfortunate animals and also save thousands of dollar in repair costs. 90% of wildlife collisions in Australia involve kangaroos. There are also frequent accidents involving cars swerving to avoid the marsupials. 

The replacement badge emits a unique audio deterrent on a high frequency that is fine tuned to the particular spies of kangaroo in a particular location, basing the sound on vehicle GPS data.  

The RooBadge is currently being tested to optimise the sound profiles. The plan is to shortly make available the world's first scientifically proven vehicular kangaroo deterrent. Once this has been achieved Volkswagen Australia plans to make a universal version available for other cars.