Integrating Conservation Biology into the Development of Automated Vehicle Technology to Reduce Animal–vehicle Collisions

Every year, hundreds of millions of animals die in collisions with cars. For some species, road strikes are a major cause of population declines, and reducing collisions is a conservation priority. We suggest that the emergence of automated vehicles will provide new opportunities for the use of computerized animal warning systems and variable speed zones in areas (and times) of high collision risk-but only if conservation biologists play a role in the development and implementation of these vehicles on the road.