Car Sounds of the Future

[Andrew Loughead]

Hi everyone,

I'm doing some research into the kind of sounds which quiet vehicles should make and it would be great if some of you could go onto our website to complete a quick evaluation and have your say on how the cars of the future should sound.

Background

Electric vehicles are almost silent up to speeds of 20mph. The lack of audibility can present a danger to other road users and pedestrians; particularly those who are blind or partially sighted. Legislation is expected to be implemented, requiring a minimum sound level to be emitted by electric and hybrid electric vehicles at low speeds.

We are a research group from the University of Warwick School of Engineering. We are collaborating with an internationally recognised automotive company and Warwickshire Association for the Blind to design and build a prototype of an external sound system for electric vehicles. As part of this project we also need to determine the ideal sound in terms of its qualitative characteristics.

Evaluation

We would appreciate your input in determining these sounds. We have created an online evaluation of several sounds we intend to pursue:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/meng/evws/ev...

Thanks for any responses and taking the time to complete the evaluation.

[The Black Flash]

Completed.

I can see all manner of issues arising with this though. How long before it's "download the new crazy frog engine sound"? Which means legislation and type approval covering "approved" sounds. Which people will hack and modify. Which means more laws to stop people working on certain parts of the car. Which means more expense, more certificates, more hassle. Urgh.