to increase security, you must have developed electric cars in the future sound systems on Board, the other participants in traffic in front of the almost silent Streamers warn. How are the blades?
Lea Weinmann
A bit ironic this is: As a developer in the automotive industry for many years the biggest trouble to make the cars on the road quieter. And now that driving electric cars is hardly even a Peep, you need to install in these vehicles, artificial noises, in order that they are louder. The Problem: The silently approaching Stromer are too great a safety risk for pedestrians.
This view represents, at least in the European Union. Already in 2014 she has therefore adopted a regulation which provides for electric and hybrid cars with an acoustic warning system to equip the “Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System“, in short, AVAS called. First of all, the AVAS of July must be in 2019, an integral part of all newly developed electric car types. The summer of 2021 is not a Hybrid or a pure electric vehicle can then, without such an acoustic system from the Assembly line to run. It bounced so, the dream from the noise-free road transport?
The sound of a stromer does not end at 20 kilometers per hour
it was as tragic as it is, because that AVAS must play in the EU, only up to a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, a Sound. The car drives faster, the rolling noise of the tyres already louder than the engine of a normal internal combustion engine, the unanimous opinion of the Technology experts. It is, in principle, only the Phase of the start-up.
road safety experts support the regulation of the EU. Pedestrian relied on all their senses – and, thus, also on the ear, says Siegfried Brockmann, head of accident research of the insurers (UDV). “When you hear a car run on the road without looking properly.” Dangerous is that E-cars have just when Starting off at a much higher acceleration capability than conventional combustion because there is less time to Dodge.
A study by the US traffic authority NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) revealed in 2009 that the probability of a pedestrian was the accident in the case of electric vehicles “twice as high” as is the case with their conventional counterparts. In consequence, the US authorities also adopted a provision which prescribes an acoustic warning signal in the case of Wander – in the US, the sound must stop, even to the threshold of 19 miles per hour is exceeded. That’s the equivalent of about 30 kilometers per hour.
road report
a Lot of power, a lot of heat
In Germany, there is as yet no accident statistics specific to electric cars, “are still too few on the road,” says UDV researchers Brockmann. Galabet Up-to-date institution determined in an Experiment, how big is the danger to pedestrians. It is checked whether pedestrians to judge the speed of electric cars, and accelerations. Until the investigations are completed, a warning “as a security measure is very important,” says Brockmann. He thinks he is pragmatic: “If it turns out that it has no influence on the traffic safety, we can abolish it.”
a Similar opinion Welf Stanko joke, head of unit for vehicle technology of the German road safety Council (DVR). In particular, associations for the Blind would have made for a System such as AVAS strong, but “there are also plenty of other people who go to the hearing”. Dangerous situations he sees not, for instance, to the “thick, wide roads”, but in restricted traffic zones and Parking areas. Places where many pedestrians are on the go and kids on the street to frolic.
it is Allowed to bark at the car, whinnying or even speak?
should sound Like the Sound of the AVAS, the EU regulation does not. It is only required that “the sound must sign with the noise of a combustion engine are to be comparable”. The long, imaginative discussions from the table, and if an E-barking car in the future, neigh, ringtones play, or even could speak. So weird as this may sound, it is believed Welf Stanko wit, everything changes is up for debate. This is of course all nonsense.
in addition, the noise to draw attention, according to the EU, “a clear reference to the behaviour of the Vehicle”. Say, pedestrians and other road users need to be able to detect if the car brakes or accelerates. These directives allow the car manufacturers, there is still room to develop their own unique electro sound.
A limo sounds different than a Roadster
you can use also robust, with BMW spokesman Wieland Brúch compares the sound of the electric vehicles in his company with a Turbine, of the type “the starship Enterprise”. The French manufacturer Renault, the driver can select between three different sounds; that the sound would not reveal the manufacturer. The partner company Nissan has given his Sound for future electric vehicles in 2017 even have a name: the “Canto” is the name of it, and derives from the Latin “I sing”.
The Sounds are different for some farmers, depending on the type of vehicle. So Mercedes is aiming for a sedan in the sound “clear” of a sporty Roadster; similarly, the E-cars from BMW are to give, depending on the model and brand of other noises. There are differences also in the interior: While the AVAS was not heard in the Interior of the BMW electric cars, Daimler is even “a focus”: “The driver wants to listen to what he’s doing,” says spokeswoman Madeleine stove litschka. The Sound of the drive convey Information and Emotion.
The driver can turn off the Sound
A rather in the small print hidden Detail of the EU regulation makes then suspicious: It says that the AVAS must have “for the driver, easy-to-reach switch”, with which he can turn off the System. When you restart the vehicle, the System should then automatically switches back. Most of the car builders have taken advantage of the regulation here at your word; only in Nissan vehicles the Sound is in the forward gear cannot be switched off, in reverse.
security expert Siegfried Brockmann responded to the shutdown option with great incomprehension. That’s not was “absolutely makes sense”. DVR man Stanko joke the holds, however, for “no big thing”. Some situations required just that the car no noise. Important something else was, for him, The EU does not prescribe that a Stromer have to make when you Start a noise such as an ignition system. However, this can be desirable, the expert said: “I Hear the car until it starts, it may already be too late.”