Can You imagine cities without a constant buzz of traffic? Streets without the sound of combustion engines? Having a walk through a city centre would be as pleasant as strolling in a park or a forest. It may be possible by switching to electric cars. A lot of car manufacturers are improving their electric and hybrid models. Also, we can see more and more of them on the streets (the environment enjoys that fact). Nevertheless, there is one significant issue connected to reducing the sound of traffic – safety. According to the research of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of USA, hybrid engine cars were 37% more likely than those with combustion engines to involve in a pedestrian accident. Also, they caused 57% more accidents involving bicycles. Governments of many countries decided that the safety of pedestrians is more important than silence. Think of the blind, such people perceive surrounding mainly by hearing as well as people walking in the streets with eyes in their smartphones.
In July 2018 European Union introduced a new law, which forces car manufacturers to attach Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) to their electric models. Automobiles, which are reversing or travelling with a speed lower than 30 km/h, have to emit sound. Yeah, governments around the world introduced such a rule, but they had no idea what kind of sound should it be. They rely on manufacturers invention. Of course, there are some restrictions, it cannot imitate the noise of the wind, water and animals. It is not the first time when people have to invent some artificial sound because of the development of technology. For example, locking smartphone and finalising the transaction with a financial app. Sound of silent engines is a more complex problem. In such a case engineers have to take to an account both user experience and safety.
For car manufacturers, it is a difficult case. For instance, Jaguar tried to implement a sound of the UFO, but the results weren’t promising. Tesla introduced a sound of farting (hehe). Other engineers take to a consideration a variety of factors, such as culture or drivers attitude. Nissan hired world-famous composers to create the perfect noise of a silent engine. The team was working on this project for almost half a year trying to develop sound which would be alerting, natural and not interrupting.
Maybe the sound of electric cars should be completely personalised and dependant to car owners? Well, for some people the sound of the vehicle is a significant factor. Some of the engineers think that it should represent a driver’s current mood. In such a case, it would be easier to recognise if one can behave aggressively on a road.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that electric or hybrid cars should emit some sound to let others know that they are approaching. Right now it is needed, so there will be no silent city centres. Maybe in the future artificial intelligence will be able to predict every situation on a road, so the sound would not be required anymore. However, there is one more important thing regarding electric vehicles – ecology. What is the sense of driving such cars if in many countries (e.g. Poland) electric engines are powered by burning fossil fuels in energy plants?
references:
1.https://wyborcza.pl/Jutronauci/7,165057,25336904,ryk-silnika-ktorego-nie-slychac-jak-beda-brzmialy-samochody.html
2.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/21/business/electric-car-noises.html
3.https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49726841
4.https://mashable.com/article/tesla-fart-mode/?europe=true
I hope one day cars will make a sound of my favourite songs. But honestly I like the sound of driving cars, especially at night or in the evening, it make streets alive.