Brazil turns to AI to save wild animals from becoming roadkill
- A computer science student has trained an AI model to recognise the five species most likely to be killed in traffic
A computer scientist in Brazil has invented a solution where AI will be used to warn drivers of the presence of wild animals. Photo: AFPIn Brazil, about 16 wild animals are killed by vehicles every second. Thus, a computer scientist has come up with a hi-tech solution: using artificial intelligence (AI) to tell drivers when animals are nearby.
According to the Brazilian Centre for Road Ecology, some 475 million vertebrate animals die on the road every year.•
Computer science student Gabriel Souto Ferrante was shocked by the deaths. So, the 25-year-old took action. He created a database with images of the five species most likely to be killed in traffic. Souto trained an AI model to recognise these animals.
To make the project a reality, Souto said scientists need “support from the companies that manage the roads”. They need to help scientists access cameras that can alert drivers if there are animals on the road.