Slashdot Mirror
US Finalizes Rules That Require Quiet Hyrbid and Electric Cars To Make Noise At Low Speeds (reuters.com)
In an effort to prevent injuries among pedestrians, the U.S. government has finalized rules that require quiet hybrid and electric vehicles to emit alert sounds when they are traveling at low speeds. Reuters reports: The rules, which were required by Congress, will require automakers like Tesla Motors Inc, Nissan Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp to add the sounds to all vehicles by September 2019. The U.S. Transportation Department said it expects the rules would prevent 2,400 injuries a year by 2020 and require the addition of alert sounds to about 530,000 2020 model vehicles. The U.S. National Highway Transportation Department said the rules will cost the auto industry about $39 million annually because automakers will need to add an external waterproof speaker to comply. But the benefits of the reduced injuries are estimated at $250 million to $320 million annually. NHTSA estimates the odds of a hybrid vehicle being involved in a pedestrian crash are 19 percent higher compared with a traditional gas-powered vehicle. About 125,000 pedestrians and bicyclists are injured annually. The rules will also help the blind and visually impaired. The rules apply to hybrid and electric cars, SUVs, trucks and buses weighing up to 10,000 pounds and seek to prevent crashes at intersections or when electric vehicles are backing up. At higher speeds, the alert is not required because other factors like tire and wind noise adequately warn pedestrians, NHTSA said.
Hissing or fake engine noise.
A.I. having religion? What could possibly wrong?
Table-ized A.I.
I made my Mini Cooper sound like a Maserati.
For some reason I only got dates with blind chicks.
Table-ized A.I.
I've found it best to assume everyone else on the road is deaf. This goes double for bicycles and triple for pedestrians.
With the ubiquity of earbuds you just cannot expect that person you are coming up on to hear you. Add simulated engine noise won't change that unless we all end up with Harley noise levels. (and then we really will all be deaf)
"looking both ways" doesn't really help if you're blind.
At least Toyota already has this in their hybrid vehicles. And in Japan you have a toggle to temporarily turn it off (for when you arrive home late, for instance, and want to minimise noise). The "whine" you hear from a Prius or Aqua at low speed is actually the speaker; with it turned off they're almost completely silent.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
No, it's not a problem. By now we already have hundreds of thousands of electric cars on the road. How many people have actually been injured by one at low speed?
Startled, yes, that can happen. Happened to me once, I admit. "Oops, there's a car, sorry!". End of story. When a car is traveling fast enough to hurt you, it's fast enough for you to hear it. Even the noise fans agree it's only a "problem" at low speed, but at those speeds there is no problem because the driver can stop on a dime.
At low speed, the only kind of dangerous accidents that happen relatively regularly is parents backing over their toddlers in the driveway with gasoline cars. Obviously the engine noise didn't help in those cases, and neither will a speaker. Backup cameras are a much better solution there, and they are becoming standard on more and more cars.
And what about Rolls Royces or high end Mercedeses with engines so quiet you don't hear them idling? Why do they get a pass? We're now arriving at the ridiculous situation where electric cars will be making more noise than gasoline powered cars. But maybe that was the idea all along. Can't have those electric cars taking jobs away from oil pumpers, can we? Next thing you know, they'll mandate a delay between the application of the accelerator pedal and the reaction of the motor. And maybe add hiccups during acceleration to mimick gear changes.