Thursday 26th November 2009

Chevy Volt Gets Pedestrian Beeper

The sound of things to come? GM's hybrid brand acknowledges safety issue

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Silent, but beepy

The problem of near-silent hybrid and electric cars ploughing into pedestrians has been acknowledged by General Motors, which is working with a group of blind people to develop audible warning systems.

Although the problem is a very real one, especially for the sight-impaired, we can't help thinking that a city full of beeping electric cars would drive its residents insane. The system being developed by GM brand Chevrolet for its Volt hybrid is currently driver operated, but the suggestion is that future versions will be automated - possibly as a result of future legislation.

And what happens at night, we wonder, when it's currently illegal to sound your vehicle horn... Pesky hybrids, tsk!

[g4ry13]

Seems rubbish, you need a way to determine range of the car. The danger's not in stationary cars.

[CypherP]

If these people are plowing their money into developing an audible recognition, can't they just create one that sounds like a car? Shirley this would be better and more practical, instead of a series of cars driving around beeping at different pitches every time the system spots a pedestrian, more than likely crossing in places/at times they shouldn't?

Town driving would be a PITA.

[scubadude]

External surround sound and sub-woofer playing a user selectable choice of engine noises is the way forewards.

Select Ford Feista mode for pootling about quietly and Dodge Viper mode for a bit more fun.
I'm sure they could sell them as optional extras like mobile phone ringtones :-)

You could buy comedy noises for your mates- Dambusters March for your Bentley Hybrid Sir, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sounds when you have the kids in the back and maybe Back to the Future Deloren sounds when you hit 88mph?

:-)

[ST8ALTH]

said:

The system being developed by GM brand Chevrolet for its Volt hybrid is currently driver operated

So it's a horn then???

Edited by ST8ALTH on Thursday 26th November 13:14

[Flat_Steve]

A bunch of otherwise silent cars driving around beeping constantly at all hours of the day? What a strange solution to the problem. As already mentioned the obvious thing to do is to have them make a simulated engine noise.

[Viggo]

This is a serious problem but it affects only a tiny minority of people. The vast majority will surely welcome quieter vehicles, and the idea of electronic engine noises is horrendous - wait until the modders get their hands on that and "personalise" their Clios so they sound like anything from F1 cars to alien spaceships!

So, rather than penalise the many to protect the few, how about developing a standardised system of transmitter built into vehicles to broadcast their presence, speed and even direction from the receiver, with that information "displayed" as codes of vibration within a handheld unit, or a unit incorporated into a cane or stick.

The alternative being persued by Chevy is simplistic to the point of being crude. Follow their lead and we'll have cars announcing their presence like those "Vehicle Reversing!" alarms on trucks. Do not want!

Edited by Viggo on Thursday 26th November 13:24

[Escort Si-130]

How about fit them with an audible speaker to create a humming sound. But when you think of it, its a bit stupid, as what would someone do if a bicycle was coming towards them and they are silent. Please dont tell me we would soon have to have beepers on cycles.

[leon9191]

Flat_Steve said:

A bunch of otherwise silent cars driving around beeping constantly at all hours of the day? What a strange solution to the problem. As already mentioned the obvious thing to do is to have them make a simulated engine noise.

I would imagine the system is much like that used on emergency vehicles where the noise allows you to locate its direction of approach more easily.

I wouldn’t want my electric car to sound like it had a petrol engine surely its one of the benefits of have a having one it being quite and relaxing to drive. Also you would have to power the noise thus reducing the cars range.

It does seem ridiculous that we now live in a world where the legal implications of driving a very quite car have to be taken into account, because this is exactly that.

Edited by leon9191 on Thursday 26th November 13:46

[gezkc]

Fitting all hybrids with bleeping devices to alert people of their approach is all well and good, but I'm thinking it won't be much help to deaf people...

Here's an idea - as it's the pedestrians who are straying into the road that are the real problem here, why doesn't someone come up with a device that they wear/carry/have implanted in their brain to assist them in recognising that a vehicle is approaching?

Or how about they only cross the roads at traffic lights (sometimes referred to as 'PEDESTRIAN crossings'?

[jains15]

I can imagine an ecomentalist's heads will explode over this!

-Must have eco friendly hybrids.
-save the planet
-cars are then silent noise pollution down
-but OH NO! Discriminates against the human rights of blind people who will be mown down in their millions!
-Solution, cars beep to warn such people, constantly with any luck!
-but OH NO! Noise pollution up again!
-Beeping scares wildlife, infringing their animal rights!

Does not compute...hybrids create more problems than they solve...system overload..self destruct BOOOM

We can but dream, we can but dream

[havoc]

jains15 said:

I can imagine an ecomentalist's heads will explode over this!

-Must have eco friendly hybrids.
-save the planet
-cars are then silent noise pollution down
-but OH NO! Discriminates against the human rights of blind people who will be mown down in their millions!
-Solution, cars beep to warn such people, constantly with any luck!
-but OH NO! Noise pollution up again!
-Beeping scares wildlife, infringing their animal rights!

Does not compute...hybrids create more problems than they solve...system overload..self destruct BOOOM

We can but dream, we can but dream

You're going to fit right in in here chap!

[Belfast Boy]

Ahhh how nice and politicly correct!

in my world it would be more of this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSOoNTSPdmA

and thinking to myself , "what you doing on the road and wheres yer feck'n Guide dog!"

[Johnpidge]

Ban poxy hybrids and stuff a V8 in all cars Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[Engineer1]

The problem of silent cars has been know about for years, I remember discussing this on my masters course 7 years ago, people tend to listen for danger as much as they look for it and can get confused if the sounds don't match the stuff they are seeing.

[E21_Ross]

ST8ALTH said:

said:

The system being developed by GM brand Chevrolet for its Volt hybrid is currently driver operated

So it's a horn then???

Edited by ST8ALTH on Thursday 26th November 13:14

exactly my thoughts. how f*cking stupid. waste of time, waste of money. just dub over a nice V8 soundtrack for everyone to hear

[Mr Whippy]

OK.

Is humanity really going down the pan or is it just me...?

Concorde grounded.

Space shuttle not replaced with something good.

HDMI not supporting error correction, but supporting copy protection.

Lies about environment forcing cars to be ste for no real reason, thus having them need beepers.



A good idea generally makes sense and makes you wish you had thought it up. This doesn't do either.

Dave

[Rodtp]

I have a Lexus GS450H and I really appreciate the silent travel, so much so that I rarely use the radio or cd player. The biggest problem are those walking along with telephones clamped to their head and the twerps listening to ipods. Near misses have been with these idiots stepping into the road without looking. If the new models come with a noise generator, that will be the first thing to be silenced

[Twincam16]

Last night, I couldn't sleep, because my next-door neighbour had left her laptop switched on in the conservatory. It was overheating, and for the best part of two hours, let out a series of high-pitched warning bleeps. Every time I felt 'finally, I can nod off now' BEEEEEEEP! Eyes wide open again. Horrible.

Something similar whilst driving would similarly infuriate me and make me want to tear the dashboard to pieces trying to switch it off. Surely a horn would suffice.

Besides, I think the last Top Gear episode proved that, in order to extend the range of an electric car, a generator constantly running at optimum economy charging the batteries is best. Lotus have recently designed an engine for that very purpose.

Amplifying the sound of that generator through the exhaust would surely return the notion of 'listening' back to the Green Cross Code.

[TheRoadWarrior]

ST8ALTH said:

said:

The system being developed by GM brand Chevrolet for its Volt hybrid is currently driver operated

So it's a horn then???

Edited by ST8ALTH on Thursday 26th November 13:14

No.. its a pedestrian-warning system developed over an intensive 18-month technology-led development program..... it is in fact; the horn OF THE FUTURE!!!


Hope it doesnt emit too many carbons!

[Fury1630]

Surely if it's driver operated it's a bit - daft? Most cars have had a driver operated beeping device for some time now, I have even used mine to suggest to apparently blind pedestrians that my car is travelling towards them - I didn't realise I was such a techie. If you're going to "invest in technology", a better / cleverer thing might be to use the transmitter in a mobile phone to send some sort of coded signel which sounds the beeper, that way the blind person can independantly verify there are no eco-mentalists about, & therefore avoid them much like the rest of us do.

But sensibly, couldn't blind Americans just use crossings? I realise they wouldn't necesserily know where they are, but the same could be said of the road irself.