h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

From - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13417962

Electric cars are dangerous because they're silent so universities are experimenting with different sounds that can be played through onboard loudspeakers to alert pedestrians.

The logical thing is to play car sounds, but they've also tried sci-fi sounds like flying saucers.

Personally, I would like my electric car to sound like a Rolls Royce Merlin engine as used in the Spitfire.

Or a horse

What noise do *you* think cars of the future should make?

I think you should be able to personalise them, like with ringtones. That way whenever you heard the Theme From Mission Impossible coming down the street, youd know there was a complete [word the mods dont like] coming.

I quite like the "flying saucer" idea - something like Hannah Barbara used in the old cartoons.

A Merlin engine soundtrack would be good - I'd quite like the sound of an AC Cobra - but then people would turn round to see where the noise was coming from, and fall over laughing, blocking the road...

No, not personalised ringtones!!

How many "Crazy Frogs" would we end up with?

Da ding ding ding ding ding dong dong dong dong doooooonnnggggg pchuhpbrrrmmmmmmmm..... etc...

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Aww that would be cool. Like having your own theme tune!!

How about a contended self-satisfied hum? As opposed to the smug condescending hum made by Prius owners, that is.


Geggs

And for a theme tune, I think I'd like my car to either play the Pink Panther theme or 633 Squadron

My phones ringtone Death Letter by The White Stripes.* Its main advantage is that I can hear it right the way across the office. I suppose for a car I could use their The Big Three Killed My Baby.





Or it would be if I hadnt lost it last week.

*BIT* of a difference there...

I think Radio 4 might be nice. Pedestrians could hear 'Thought For The Day' when they cross the road in the morning, 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' during the evening rush hour, and something creepy at night like 'A Book at Bedtime'.

The sound of a child pretending to be a fire engine

Nee-naw nee-naw nee-naw...

If this was Facebook, Id have clicked Like.

Ravels Bolero?



It should have a people sensor so it only switches on when someone is within a certain distance.... in that case, perhaps the sound of someone clearing their throat?

Ha! In which case the English cars would drive along apologising to everyone.

I'd like the noise of an old fashioned prop aircraft.

FB

"warning. This vehicle is travelling forwards. warning....." then they could recycle the technology from lorries.

Ride of the Valkyres please. Or that bit of Opera from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

But yes, they should be normal car sounds. I often have my window open when driving to give myself an extra chance to hear something when I'm not looking in that direction.

There was a segment on BBC news this morning about it, with a woman who is blind and her guide dog. What they don't tell you is that Guide Dogs don't decide when to cross the road, they only decide when *not* to. The human decides when, the dogs are trained to disobey the command to move off if there is danger. I'm not entirely sure if they use sight or hearing to identify oncoming cars, but they will stop a person stepping off in front of a bicycle, which is also pretty silent.

I'd like the sound of the Flintstones cars being run along, that'd be pretty cool. That or the sound.

I like swl*s idea- *Excuse me, coming through...mind behind you, just passing by....* done in a Flight of the Phoenix Richard Attenborough voice, complete with slight stutter.

Joking apart...a complex, multi-frequency noise would be best because of the way we use our hearing to detect direction. So no probably wibble-wibble flying saucer noises. Indeed, something like the noise of an internal combustion engine would be pretty spot on.

~Meaningful~ noises, which either convey information (eg recognisable sounds such as songs) or which change unpredictably are also good for alerting direction finding - but sometimes too much so. (Would you want an ice cream van to drive past your house playing Greensleves at 2am?)

It would be interesting, though, to examine how *much* noise they need to make. Over the last 100-odd years weve done this very peculiar thing in giving over our environment to road transport. But noise pollution - amongst many other things - is a serious concern. It would be good if we could look at the opportunity offered by electric cars to redress this without compromising the other serious issue that weve blundered into.