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Should EVs Make Artificial Sounds at Low Speeds?

B

banned-66611

Guest
Elon has kept another promise with the lates software update 2020.48.26
a plethora of sounds now avail - even customizable :rolleyes:

Oh god it's horrendous, you can change the horn sound and the pedestrian warning sound to anything, even use your own sounds on a USB stick.

Fortunately I think it might be illegal around here as both of those things are regulated but I feel for the poor people who will have to put up with asshats and their fart sounds.
 

Migizi

Member
Oct 14, 2020
15
6
USA
Oh god it's horrendous, you can change the horn sound and the pedestrian warning sound to anything, even use your own sounds on a USB stick.

Fortunately I think it might be illegal around here as both of those things are regulated but I feel for the poor people who will have to put up with asshats and their fart sounds.

No...the fun is just farting, er ah, I mean starting....

The jestons vehicle
Bumble Bee
Kit (Knight Rider)
Diesel Truck idling
Car miss firing and back firing
Call of a Loon
clip from Low Rider
clip from Drive My Car

just to name a few
 

HankLloydRight

No Roads
Jan 18, 2014
12,821
10,834
Connecticut
No...the fun is just farting, er ah, I mean starting....

The jestons vehicle
Bumble Bee
Kit (Knight Rider)
Diesel Truck idling
Car miss firing and back firing
Call of a Loon
clip from Low Rider
clip from Drive My Car

just to name a few

Just to remind people -- now shipping: https://ev-tsla.com/wasp/horn.php
You can add all the sound clips you want, too.

 
B

banned-66611

Guest
No...the fun is just farting, er ah, I mean starting....

The jestons vehicle
Bumble Bee
Kit (Knight Rider)
Diesel Truck idling
Car miss firing and back firing
Call of a Loon
clip from Low Rider
clip from Drive My Car

just to name a few

It's a safety device that stops people being hit by your car. If you change it to something stupid and they get injured or killed... That's on you.

What is it with Tesla drivers? Autopilot safety defeat devices were bad enough.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: DanCar

DaveG_NJ

Member
Oct 7, 2020
216
451
NJ
On my car at least, the new Boombox sounds play IN ADDITION TO, and not instead of, the default PWS sounds, which is kind of lame. But I suppose, if the Boombox actually replaced the PWS sounds, you could put an MP3 of silence on your USB drive and completely defeat PWS.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: 1 person

Migizi

Member
Oct 14, 2020
15
6
USA
It's a safety device that stops people being hit by your car. If you change it to something stupid and they get injured or killed... That's on you.

What is it with Tesla drivers? Autopilot safety defeat devices were bad enough.

good grief - Go back to your prius
NO TESLA FOR YOU!
 
B

banned-66611

Guest
It's actually a safety device to alert people of your presence.

Whatever the sound may be, it's better than no sound at all, even if you consider it "stupid."

You half understood the problem. It's supposed to alert people to your presence... So making it sound like something that they would ignore, or a sound that suggests it is something other than a couple of tonnes of metal hurtling down the road is a really bad idea.

That's why there needs to be a standard for these things. Minimum volume level, some measure of how noticeable it is (e.g. no high pitch sounds older people can't hear) and something that suggests a car approaching. We already have similar standards for vehicle reversing sounds in the EU, for example.

The horn as well, it's considered a safety device and must conform to certain parameters so that it is actually useful. The Tesla ones, like the random guy talking for example, are completely useless for the actual purpose a horn is there for.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: HankLloydRight

arnis

Member
Apr 13, 2015
919
596
Estonia
I hope Tesla will one day play that sound only if it makes sense to play pedestrian "music".
That means detecting people walking in parking lots, kids playing ball etc..

Also Level2: loud alert (not manual horn) to those who actually are illegally on driving trajectory (jaywalkers etc).

Hmm, should tweet that idea to Musk.

Like that?
https://twitter.com/ArnisTarassu/status/1343156232090243072?s=20
 
Last edited:
B

banned-66611

Guest
I hope Tesla will one day play that sound only if it makes sense to play pedestrian "music".
That means detecting people walking in parking lots, kids playing ball etc..

I hope not, then we are all forced to join the Tesla beta testing programme.
 
  • Funny
Reactions: arnis

wdolson

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2015
7,418
9,916
Clark Co, WA
You half understood the problem. It's supposed to alert people to your presence... So making it sound like something that they would ignore, or a sound that suggests it is something other than a couple of tonnes of metal hurtling down the road is a really bad idea.

That's why there needs to be a standard for these things. Minimum volume level, some measure of how noticeable it is (e.g. no high pitch sounds older people can't hear) and something that suggests a car approaching. We already have similar standards for vehicle reversing sounds in the EU, for example.

The horn as well, it's considered a safety device and must conform to certain parameters so that it is actually useful. The Tesla ones, like the random guy talking for example, are completely useless for the actual purpose a horn is there for.

Even if someone can hear higher frequencies, lower frequencies are much easier to locate in space. A spread spectrum of sounds is ever easier to locate.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: 1 person

drtimhill

Active Member
Apr 25, 2019
1,551
1,836
Seattle
You half understood the problem. It's supposed to alert people to your presence... So making it sound like something that they would ignore, or a sound that suggests it is something other than a couple of tonnes of metal hurtling down the road is a really bad idea.

First, these things work only at low speed, so "hurtling" seems misleading. Second, much of the "attention" is more related to novelty. Once you get used to a noise you tend to blank it out (nurses have this problem in ICU/CCU with alarms, which go off so often they get used to them). Finally, the legislation is stupid since it says EVs should have the sound makers, rather than any car that makes less than a certain amount of natural noise.

I'm all for making roads safer, especially for those with sight/sound challenges, I just dont think this knee-jerk legislation was very well thought through, and we could and should do much better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JRP3 and tomas

Dave EV

Active Member
Jun 23, 2009
1,651
970
San Diego
This. Many ICE cars made now shut off motor at idle, so they are sitting silently at intersections until they begin moving. I suspect singling out EVs comes from auto industry lobby and is more of a shot at Tesla than a true attempt to address the issue.
Exactly. While I would highly prefer no mandatory noise-makers on vehicles, if they are going to mandate them, they should be regulated independent of the type of drivetrain.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MorrisonHiker

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