High School Students Developing Deer Accident Detection System

A new report from Autoweek highlights that four high school students in Colorado are developing Project Deer, a warning system to help drivers spot wildlife crossing roadways. The students hope the system can be utilized in the ever-growing standards for NHTSA mandates. Currently, NHTSA mandates do not note any standards in regard to wildlife.

Last year the team of STEM School Highlands Ranch students won the Colorado Samsung Solve for Tomorrow award, which gave them $15,000 to help develop Project Deer. Should the students next-round project be selected they will be able to win up to $100,000 to continue their development.

The system is made up of a thermal camera and processing unit. The camera takes eight photos every second and stores the information, which is then fed to the processor, which produces a red light if it detects a deer. As the system continues to develop the students hope they will be able to use AI to process the images to detect more animals including bears, elk, moose and small mammals. 

According to the team, the full system could be implemented for between $1,000 – $2,000. The system can be added to any passenger vehicle and could help bring older vehicles more in line with NHTSA standards. 

The team is currently in the testing phases and aiming to develop the system to a level where it could be reliable at highway speeds. 

To support the team or send parts, reach out to communications@stemk12.org. To read the full report from Autoblog, click here.