A seemingly simple device that replaces a Volkswagen’s front badge could save countless kangaroos and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage by emitting a warning signal of a vehicle’s approach.

Developed over three years by Volkswagen Australia and the DDB Group in consultation with the University of Melbourne and WIRES, it is hoped the ‘RooBadge’ will reduce collisions with kangaroos, which comprise 90 per cent of on-road wildlife accidents.

The ‘badge’ is a circular disc that replaces the current Volkswagen roundel/badge.

Connecting to an in-car app, RooBadge calibrates a vehicle’s GPS coordinates with kangaroo distribution data.

This conveys a unique audio deterrent for the kangaroo species that inhabits the vehicle’s particular location.

A mixture of natural and artificial sounds is mixed in real time and projected in a high frequency audio signal.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles director Ryan Davies said: “Why is Volkswagen investing time and energy in this project? Because we can and it’s the right thing to do.”