In collaboration with an association for the visually impaired, Jaguar has developed an artificial noise for its 100% electric SUV.
The Jaguar I-Pace, 100% electric, will make noise. In a press release issued on October 11, 2018, the automaker unveiled the Audible Vehicle Alert System (AVAS) technology, a system that allows the SUV to alert the surrounding area of its presence to a speed of 20 mph. km / h. Joined by Numerama, Jaguar said that only future productions of the car will be concerned.
This novelty is above all a regulatory obligation . From July 2019 (2020 in the United States), car manufacturers will comply with a European law voted to protect pedestrians. Thus, electric cars, whose engine does not make a noise, will have to produce an artificial sound of 56 decibels minimum at low speed. In a way, Jaguar took the lead.
AN ARTIFICIAL SOUND
To ensure the effectiveness of its technology that can not be deactivated, Jaguar has approached the most vulnerable people in an urban environment: those with a visual impairment. The members of Guide Dogs for the Blind, the first association for the visually impaired in the United Kingdom, agreed to play guinea pigs to test the sound produced by I-Pace and ensure that it did indeed fulfill its role.
On the development, Jaguar shares an astonishing anecdote: ” The first tests, which were inspired by the sound of a science fiction spacecraft, had to be abandoned because pedestrians reacted to the approach of the vehicle while looking at the sky rather than the road . However, according to the video presentation, it is indeed a futuristic tone that has been chosen, which will not be heard in the cockpit ( there is a not very convincing sound for passengers ). Note that the artificial sound is cut after 20 km / h, speed from which the natural sounds of air and tires take over.
Happy to see the involvement of Jaguar, Guide Dogs for the Blind has agreed to collaborate again with the brand in the coming years, no doubt to bring ever more improvements to the Audible Vehicle Alert System.