Urban bike messengers have long known what hybrid car owners are just now discovering: When people can't hear your moving vehicle, they have a tendency to step in front of you, creating a potentially messy physics lesson involving bodies intersecting at vastly different speeds. And so, as an article in the Times points out:
Working with Hollywood special-effects wizards, some hybrid auto companies have started tinkering in sound studios, rather than machine shops, to customize engine noises.
Nissan is also consulting with the film industry on sounds that could be emitted by its forthcoming Leaf battery-electric vehicle, while Toyota has been working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Federation of the Blind and the Society of Automotive Engineers on sounds for electric vehicles.
"One possibility is choosing your own noise," said Nathalie Bauters, a spokeswoman for BMW's Mini division, who added that such technology could be added to one of BMW's electric vehicles in the future.
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