Electric Vehicle (EV) produces zero emissions, and also zero noise, the zero road noise seems like a cool factor. But in reality this “Silence of the EVs” make it impossible for other road users to know that there is a vehicle at a distance, this is unlike ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) vehicle which make a pass-by noise.
This pass-by noise is especially important for Vulnerable road users (VRUs) like pedestrians, parents with strollers, teens with headphones for their safety.
The technical solution is to have an external speaker which connects to the infotainment ECU and plays an speed dependent humming noise which alerts VRUs. This is regulated in the EU and mandatory from 2019 , the link to the same can be found at https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/news/electric-and-hybrid-cars-new-rules-noise-emitting-protect-vulnerable-road-users-2019-07-03_en
I would like to urge the major Indian OEMs like https://www.instagram.com/mahindraelectricsuvs/ and https://www.instagram.com/tata.evofficial/ to explore this possibility to improve VRU safety. In addition I would like to request https://www.instagram.com/arai_india/ to add it to the mandate of homologation if feasible.
Automotive embedded software | Development engineering for software (personal views) 