Crash tests, emergency brake assistants, night bans: How automated lawnmowing is becoming hedgehog-proof

Night-time collisions with robotic lawnmowers are a significant animal welfare and conservation problem for hedgehogs as they often suffer serious or even fatal injuries. In order to make the operation of robotic lawnmowers hedgehog-safe, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), the specialist crash test company CTS and the computer magazine c't are developing special hedgehog dummies and standardized tests to prevent fatal collisions.