To this author’s ears, it’s a noise that seems to herald the arrival of the spaceships coming to take all of the world’s children to a new home in the sun. Chevrolet claims it’s supposed to feel more natural and less intrusive. Whatever your take, the new low-speed warning noise is a necessary addition to the 2019 Volt — looming federal guidelines demand it.
Expect to hear a different kind of tonal landscape once electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids make up a larger portion of the teeming vehicle masses. Hear for yourself:
In response to requests from Twitter users, Michael Wayland of Automotive News posted this video on Twitter Monday morning.
Here you go (video also being uploaded to article). pic.twitter.com/5Py6fJDC5R
— Michael Wayland (@MikeWayland) September 24, 2018
Years in the making, the new dictate from the U.S. Department of Transportation requires at least half of all EVs or PHEVs (“quiet vehicles”) to emanate a government-approved noise at speeds below 18.6 miles per hour by September 1st, 2019. All vehicles must conform within a year from that date.
Much like car horns, the exact tone isn’t standardized, and individual automakers will come up with their own solution. Some OEMs, if allowed, might continue with the low-frequency hum or buzzing sound already in place in existing quiet vehicles. The Volt swapped its buzz for this new sound for the 2019 model year, with the all-electric Bolt to follow.
“We put a lot of work into making sure it was quiet on the inside of the car,” Rob Mantinan, Volt program engineering manager, told Automotive News. One can imagine the disincentive for new car buyers if an intrusive hum made its way into the cabin of the car, even at low speeds.
“The new [tone] is more tonal. It’s more deliberate. It’s more noticeable, for sure, on the outside of the car,” Mantinan added.
An external speaker emits the noise in either drive or reverse, with volume increasing to match the vehicle’s speed. Mantinan said the company wants to offer fair warning to pedestrians that the vehicle is speeding up.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, EVs and PHEVs are 19 percent more likely to hit pedestrians and cyclists. Blame the stealthy nature of their electric powerplants for the heightened risk. (Diesels must sit at the top of the safety pyramid in this regard.)
Of course, Chevrolet isn’t rolling out a first drive event for the mildly refreshed 2019 Volt just because of a sound. There’s changes afoot to the brand’s “extended-range electric vehicle,” a major one being the vehicle’s reduced charging time. GM wants more Volt buyers to treat their vehicle as an EV, charging it up whenever possible, rather than relying on the 1.5-liter four-cylinder generator to complete the owner’s daily driving duties.
[Image: General Motors]
“An external speaker emits the noise in either drive or reverse, with volume increasing to match the vehicle’s speed.”
1) It really ought to increase in pitch, too; people expect this and use it as a cue to understand whether a car approaching them is slowing down, accelerating, etc.
2) I really want it to be customizable, but I only want it to be customizable for me and for certain people that I like.
The pitch change is a natural physical effect called The Doppler Effect. It would be a major mistake to artificially emulate that based on speed; people would be confused as heck and look in the wrong direction.
Leave natural physical effects to natural physical actions.
Well, at least with the Doppler you’d know if a storm was coming in.
ScarecrowRepair, I don’t want to emulate doppler; I want to emulate peoples’ expectations that mechanical systems make higher-pitched noises when they’re working harder. Why do you think random-ass sci-fi gear does a pitch-up sequence when it’s gaining power, and reverse when it loses power? It’s a universal signal to people about how much effort is being expended.
Doppler only has a small effect at parking lot speeds, which is mostly what we’re talking about here, but the cue of whether a car is accelerating toward you or has noticed you and is stopping can be conveyed by pitch shifting that’s much greater in scale than the attendant Doppler changes.
Basically, we want to meet peoples’ expectations for how a mechanical thing behaves, and people expect *both* the Doppler effect *and* a mechanical pitch signal proportional to energy output (ie, velocity).
The possibilities are endless after these things get hacked. A whole industry like ringtones. Send a musical message about yourself via the tone.
Then there’s all the sounds in our surroundings. Animal cries. Or fake engine noise. Sonar pings. Screeching tires.
Or how about voice messages: “Warning, stupid electric car approaching, your life and ecosystem are in danger.” With your choice of voice and message. Or famous quotes. Advice.
I’m expecting a thumping bass note, once electrics make it down to the crowd currently driving 2006 Chargers.
Crazy idea–how about making it sound like an engine? Something people already associate with automobiles.
Cause it’s not an engine.
Within a couple of years the GM electrics’ safety noise will be melded with the sounds of warped brake rotors, disintegrating CV joints and dried-out Chinese-built wheel bearings.
Yeah, that’s no good. That’s the sound you hear right before right before someone gets an axe buried in their skull in a horror flick. You wouldn’t want it to sound like an ice cream truck either though. First world problem as hipsters would say.
They could just use the sound in the original Friday the 13th, made just before Jason dispatches some unlucky teenager.
I think it was Jason’s mother who killed everybody in the original Friday the 13th.
Thanks, government!
-nobody
There is a ton of stupid government regulations. This isn’t really one of them.
Silent cars aren’t a good idea. It reminds me of the ‘70s SNL skit where Dan Aykroyd designed a Halloween costume called “The Invisible Pedestrian”.
Was that Irwin Mainway, who also designed toys for kids, like “Bag of Broken Glass”?
Yeah, Jane Curtain was a consumer advocate who was out to get him, lol. That show was funny back then.
I’m hearing the intro to “I’m Not In Love”, by 10cc:
https://youtu.be/oqwes1mQhro
That’s about dumbest thing I ever heard. That alone would make me not buy the car.
Sounds like the Jupiter 2 from lost in space.
Thank you to General Motors. Sounds like it might be really simple to disconnect this absurd device.
The 21st century skip-shift disable. Ha!
If the speaker is under the grille, you can expect the neighbors to disable it during the night with an ice pick.
If it’s like my Bolt, then you simply pull the fuse to the noisemaker.
Or, maybe there is a blown fuse in the noisemaker spot, who knows how that fuse got blown your honor, what fuse…?
The Accord Hybrid from the previous generation made a noise like this. It truly cannot be heard inside the vehicle.
Not sure how well it works in the real world for its intended purpose, either!
The 2019 Chevy Volt, lulling innocent pedestrians to sleep so it can cave it their skulls.
Enya could use that for one of her albums.
It is like Tarkus Eruption that stuck in introduction.
That sounds like a fire siren / burglar alarm going off nearby. I could imagine it being very annoying if someone is waiting outside foot on brake in Drive and this is continually going off while you’re trying to sleep.
As others said, it needs some directional indication.
For example, when European emergency vehicles are nearing a busy junction they switch to a “blip blip blip blip blip blip” siren that supposedly makes it easier for cars to hear where the sound is coming from. (I imagine US sirens do the same?)