American drivers kill an estimated one million animals every day. While most animals hit are small, large wild animals account for about one to two million annual collisions. Vehicle collisions do not just have a devastating impact on wildlife—they also cause approximately 200 human deaths, 26,000 injuries, and $8 billion in property damage every year. 

Collisions with wildlife are a massive problem for human welfare and the animals that roam our country’s wild spaces. And while solutions like wildlife crossings are undoubtedly effective at redirecting animals off roads, they come with very high price tags to build. Now, an automaker is trying a new tactic: developing an alarm that can startle animals off the road before a car drives through. 

Nissan partnered with researchers, government officials, and designers to create a solution for wildlife collisions. Nissan is a Japanese company, and like the United States, Japan has a problem with animals causing car accidents. However, one of Japan’s greatest concerns is protecting a beloved endangered species: the Amami rabbit. Accidents involving these rabbits have increased year over year for seven consecutive years, and drivers killed 147 animals in 2023 alone. While Nissan’s motivation might be to protect an endangered species in Japan, drivers worldwide could benefit from the research team’s innovation. 

The current prototype of the animal alarm is adapted from Nissan’s innovative Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrian Systems (VSP), originally developed to address the silent nature of electric vehicles (EVs). This system alerts pedestrians to approaching EVs, and now it’s being repurposed to warn animals. 

From there, Animalert was born. The prototype is a high-frequency alarm mounted to the front of a vehicle. The team developed a frequency that would be inaudible to humans but would present Amami rabbits with a sound they had never heard before, one that would hopefully scare them off roads. 

Early testing in Nissan’s research and development facilities, in the wild, and on the road have all been promising. Night tests aimed at measuring the response of the nocturnal rabbits showed that individual animals left the area almost immediately when they heard the noise. The team has also tested these frequencies on deer, wild boars, and birds. One of the great things about this system is that the sound lasts only momentarily, long enough to do the necessary job of scaring animals off roads but not so long that it causes any harm. Trees and grass absorb excess sound, so only animals near the car would be impacted. 

There’s a long way to go before this technology becomes commonplace. More testing is needed, and the best frequencies to deter wildlife will likely need more study, too. Even though there is a long road ahead, wildlife lovers can rejoice at the prospect. 

This innovation could save millions of animals while preventing human death and property loss. That is something worth getting excited about.