malcolm

Does Very Orange count as Loud?

vfx

lol!









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Cobos

Definately :)

Cobos


PS: To be slightly ontopic, I know many of the french EVs has a double set of horns where the second one is a lot softer. As I'm on a tangent here anyway, a bit like our trams which has a bell like horn they use to get pedestrians to stop crossing the street, and also a really really noisy airhorn which they rarely use.

doug

Yeah, I (and others) have mentioned the dual horn idea in the past. Would be really useful particularly in those parking lot situations when you want to alert someone to your presence without seeming like a total ass. I seem to remember someone mentioning this as a feature on the EV1... like a gentle 'bonk' noise you'd get if you flashed the high beams or something (I might be mistaken). Anyhow it's a good idea. Don't know if Tesla has implemented anything like that, but it seems they haven't.

doug

Are Hybrid Cars Too Quiet?

insndrvr

A good possible solution would be to have some sort of short range transmitter on each vehicle. Then a small pocket sized device can be used to detect of an approaching vehicle, either with an audible or vibrational response, I am sure it could even work to give a sense of direction from which the vehicle is approaching by sampling the signal over a few milliseconds.

This could also be used in conjunction with other safety systems, you could have a receiver on your bike to alert you if a vehicle is approaching from behind you, or if one is coming up to a cross street that you are approaching. Cars themselves could use receivers to detect and display for the driver where other cars are and which direction they are moving. Ultimately this type of system could be used in the situations that they proposed in the series Future Car where cars are automated and use all sorts of data to know where they can and can't go.

There won't be a day when suddenly ever car is automated, but if the non-automated cars could transmit their presence and direction, the automated systems could make adjustments for these vehicles, giving them more space and more time to respond.

Making cars noisy is a "band-aid" fix to a bigger problem, and American politicians seem to be really good at trying to pass laws to fix the symptoms of real problems, instead of trying to find the root cause and address that.

BBHighway

They will probably pass a law that requires installation of those backup beepers, except they will run all the time, not just for backing up. Some airports have electric shuttles that beep continuously whenever they are running.

If I have to listen to a constant beep-beep-beep while I drive around in my sports car, I'll cancel my order!

This would be a good roundabout way for the oil industry and conventional ICE automakers to crush the EV industry before it gets too big

doug

The end of the AP video suggests lawmakers are eager to do something now even without a study. Help me Jebus.


EDIT: Sorry, I listened to the vid again and it said "car makers" not "lawmakers."

"Car makers say they are anxious to address the issue, and the study may not even be necessary."

malcolm

Okaaay....

So why don't we take the sound that the electric car makes normally and simply send it out in front of the vehicle in some sort of cone-shaped distribution pattern?

USA Today

Shape and direction of the distribution cone could be orientated for curb-side pedestrians at distances appropriate to, say, 30-40 mph.

Essentially, the car is louder from the front as it approaches you - sound levels could be matched to existing ICE vehicles, although the quality of the sound will be distinctively different. This would only require a smaller increase in sound energy since it is focussed where it is needed, rather than having to substantially increase the sound energy all around in order to get enough of it directed ahead of the vehicle. It could even be set so that the car DOESN'T get louder as it approaches you - interesting experiment - but not good safety.

I'm sure a few enterprising individuals would want to play their car stereos through it. Knight Rider Theme? Al Gore speeches? Jet aircraft? Ocean surf?? Whale songs???? But the system will probably have to sound "motor-ish". :)

Wouldn't have to be on all the time, either. Above a certain speed, wind and tyre noise will make any car noisy enough (in any case, blind people don't need to cross freeways). The system could cut in when speeds drop below 45mph(?) or cut out altogether if it detects another vehicle a few yards ahead.

At really slow speeds (below 10mph?) it wouldn't be needed either as the driver should be able to stop in time. So the volume could rise and fall as the car picks up speed from 10 to 45.

Presumably the people inside the vehicle would still experience the same dB levels as in an unmodified EV.

vfx

There are 250 million cars, quickly expanding to the 300 million population in the US.

Would you like every car on the road making noise or would you have them transmit a silent signal that is received by a box that is carried by one of the 10 million blind in the US? It could "point" to passsing cars by vibrating or beeping.

__________________
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The world loves to be deceived.