Comment by baldeagle | Hacker News Reader

Comment by baldeagle | Hacker News Reader

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I drive a Leaf and a Volt, both technically electric cars. The sprinting power of an electric is pretty good, I often take modded civics off the line (stoplight) in the Leaf; the point being that electric cars can quickly move to a spot you don't anticipate them. The Volt has a 'pedestrian warning horn' that, when engaged by the driver, gently and rapidly beeps the horn to draw attention to the Volt. Since it is engaged by the driver, however; it does little if the driver isn't paying attention.

As a cyclist, I enjoy having good situational awareness, and electric cars can definitely be surprising when they pass you. Overall, though I enjoy the super quiet ride, I think we should require some warning noise (engine noise seems like a nice option) to alert other to the oncoming car. It makes it safer for the driver because people are less likely to do something unexpected, and safer for the other people because they have better situational awareness.

Perhaps when automated car drivers are the norm, we can move to silent cars; since they will be more vigilant than a person could ever be.

I'm torn with the noise situation with EVs. On one hand, I obviously recognize the importance of pedestrians being made aware of nearby automobiles, especially those with vision impairment. But on the other hand, I feel that automobiles making constant loud noise is an antipattern. The reason that cars have always made constant loud noise isn't to notify pedestrians—it's because gasoline engines produce a lot of waste noise.

If in a parallel universe the first mass adopted automobiles operated silently, I don't think we would or should have eschewed them or put constant noise-makers on them. I suspect we would have done the same thing we actually did do, even in our world of gasoline automobiles: put a user-activated noise-maker on them and expect and require operators to use that device when appropriate.

I would generally agree about the origin of noises and their alternate purposes.

However, I would also suggest that it is a very strange, unearthly, or extrordinary phenomenon to have such a massive and fast-moving thing traversing in such silence.

For example, there are not elephants that travel so silently that they may accidentally trample rodents underfoot.

Alternatively, though, outerspace and underwater, things are much less certain regarding the danger of large masses moving quickly.

>>> As a cyclist, I enjoy having good situational awareness, and electric cars can definitely be surprising when they pass you.

The car could have a bell and "on your left" speaker. ;-)

That or you can just listen for tire noise. Even electic cars are quite loud above 25 mph, or so, so it only really becomes a problem at stop lights. Even then, the distinctive power supply whine will let youn that a hybrid or electric is behind you.

Agreed about tire noise and whine, but the problem is level of ambient noise, and habit. If you have an IC car nearby, even idling, the electric one will be virtually silent.

A revving engine would be less disruptive. It's a noise that most of us filter out, except those in situations which make them on alert for oncoming traffic, e.g. pedestrians and cyclists.

Quite true. Also, my brain reacts to "on your left" by assuming that I can let my guard down, which would be the wrong reaction if it's a car.

This seems like the perfect use for something like a mini LIDAR you can mount on a bike that detects a car behind you and just lights up a couple of LEDs on the handlebars.

Forget the bike, I've always wanted a kit that would detect cars around my car and display them like a mini map. Maybe with high speed delta from my own highlighted.

I mostly bike around cities, and when I drive I have taken to cracking open a window because not being able to hear cars around me feels deeply disconcerting.

Wow - I thought it was just me !

Every cyclist has their own preferences, but for me, a rear view mirror really helps. I still turn and look if I have to change lanes or something like that, but keeping an "inventory" of what's behind me really helps avoid unnecessary surprises.

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