The Danger of a Quiet Electric Vehicle
The electric vehicle, as well as a hybrid electric, is a boon to the environment. They do pose a danger though. The ultra quiet electric vehicle actually creates a safety risk for pedestrians, especially those that are visually impaired. Humans rely on the sound of a car coming in order to register risk. If a visually impaired person is walking down the sidewalk of the future with a busy highway filled with electric vehicles in front of her, what is going to help her recognize the upcoming danger?
The answer to this question is a third-party created speaker system. I’m not talking about ICE (in car entertainment) but an externally mounted speaker that emulates an engine sound so that cars running in electric mode will have an audible presence.
The PANDA System
PANDA stands for Pedestrian Awareness Noise-emitting Device and Application and was created by college students Bryan Bai and Everett Meyer at the 2007 Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship in Palo Alto, California.
In an interview that was published in the Imperial Valley News, “Their PANDA system is about 5 decibels quieter than a regular combustion engine from the front and 10 to 20 decibels quieter from the back. They’re working on a commercial version of PANDA they hope to have ready by early June.” I was unable to determine whether the pair met their June 2008 goal.
Lotus “Safe and Sound” Hybrid demo car
Paul Tan has an article on his website today that describes the Lotus Sound Synthesis technology. According to the paultan.org article “Lotus used a Toyota Prius as a demonstrator vehicle and applied its new Sound Synthesis system to it. The new technology combines Active Road Noise Cancellation, Engine Order Cancellation and Sound Synthesis.”
The system has a waterproof speaker located near the radiator that will transmit sounds based on the speed of the car as well as the throttle of the engine. One distinct aspect of the Lotus Sound Synthesis technology is that users can customize the sound based on their preferences – how about a meaty v-8 sounding electric car? With the Lotus Sound Synthesis you will be able to achieve this.
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Filed Under: General, electric vehicles |
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This reminds me of a recent article I read where a young boy was hit by a Prius - he didn’t hear it approaching as he was riding his bike.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/08/its-happened-boy-hit-by-hybrid-mom-blames-quiet-running/
Last time i checked, the fact that EVs are so noiseless, was a big PLUS, not a negative thing. Good riddance to the noise pollution. It is just something that people are not used to anticipating yet.
It is ridiculous to suggest that vehicles must make noise for people to take notice of it. Must bicycles also come equipped with a noise maker? And will you also attach a smoke machine to EVs because you cant SMELL the smoke? Give me a break!
I think the problem is that this is a new norm. As with all changes, it takes a while for society to embrace it (in large numbers). As more EVs hit the roads, it is likely that external noise producing add-ons won’t be necessary as engineers and creative entrepreneurs will come up with new ways to help the general public grow aware of recognizing EVs. Thank you for your input Xebra, I do think noise pollution is an often-overlooked form of pollution (I live out in the middle of the desert with little noise and no light pollution either).
Tina - My children are young and while they never play without adult supervision, I have taught them to “listen” for cars to know when to move out of the way. I can definitely see that I need to change this approach.
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