Development of stationary sounds in electric vehicles
Electric vehicles are participating in road traffic in increasing numbers, but they move almost silently at low speeds. The reduced perceptibility of vehicles with electric drive components has already been proven by a large number of studies. On behalf of the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), the Chair of Acoustics and Haptics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Technical University of Dresden has now investigated the influence of artificially generated stationary sound from electrically powered vehicles on safety. In this context, the aim was also to determine whether a stationary sound can help prevent accidents. The results show that not every stationary sound in every driving situation leads to a better identification. Some stationary sounds showed significant effects with regard to the detection performance, both for normal sighted persons and for persons being blind / visually impaired. Due to their importance, the results were passed on to the responsible committees.