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Anmol Karan is a high school senior in the D.C. area. One night, he got some disturbing news. His uncle had been driving down in Loudon County, Virginia, and been involved in an accident with a deer. But the mishap inspired Karan.

“That caused a pretty-pretty bad collision, which caused him to get an injury…Seeing him caused me to just feel that there probably is some type of method that we can keep on these roads in order to prevent such accidents from happening.”

Karan teamed up with his classmate, Shaurya Jain, and the two began to brainstorm. They realized that loudspeakers emitting the right human or animal noises might be able to scare deer away from roads. If that failed, ultrasonic pules could also scare deer away.

The two knew they couldn’t just build a noisemaker to scare deer away from a road indefinitely. The animals would eventually get used to it and cross the road. But with modern technology, they could create a smart device that could detect both a deer approaching a road and oncoming traffic. It could then scare off deer if a collision was imminent.

They began to collect collision data to feed into AI and identify hotspots where the prototypes of their device could protect both motorists and deer. The project is getting a ton of attention and even funding.

The attention includes letters of support from their high school’s Web Lab director and the Virginia Transportation Research Council. Their funding includes a $15,000 grant through the Animal Welfare Institute.

Jain said, “Honestly, we’re very honored to receive this award…Not everyone would trust a bunch of high schoolers with this kind of money.” He has his own motivation for the project. He was inspired by his religion, Jainism. Jainism considers all live creatures sacred and worth protecting.

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Henry Cesari

Henry Cesari joined MotorBiscuit in 2021 and brings his deep interest in vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles to the site. Having restored his first classic car at just 16 years old, Henry has wrenched on everything from overland campers to Japanese motorcycles and even pre-war Bugattis. Henry is also an avid attendee at local car shows and genuinely enjoys connecting with fellow auto enthusiasts.

Henry earned a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and English from the University of Vermont. He has since incorporated his love of the written word with his admiration of classic cars. While Henry is interested in vintage cars, he believes the golden age of cars is yet to come. He is confident journalists will play an important role in this revolution by exposing the industry as it is now and envisioning its possible future.