Electric cars and their warning signals difficult to locate at low speed

As electric cars become more common, vulnerable road users are encountering more and more warning signals from them. Now, new research from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, shows that one of the most common signal types is very difficult for humans to locate, especially when multiple similar vehicles are in motion simultaneously.

In a recently published study, researchers from Chalmers investigated how well people can locate three common types of warning (or AVAS -Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System) signals from hybrid and electric vehicles moving at low speeds. The researchers’ tests showed that all the signal types were harder to locate than the sound of an internal combustion engine. For one of the signals, the majority of test subjects were unable to distinguish the direction of the sound or determine whether they were hearing one, two or more vehicles simultaneously.

“The requirements placed on car manufacturers relate to detection, or detectability, not about locating sound direction or the number of vehicles involved. But if you imagine, say, a supermarket carpark, it’s not inconceivable that several similar car models with the same AVAS signal will be moving at the same time and in different directions,” says Leon Müller, a doctoral student at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers.

Today’s electric and hybrid vehicles meet the requirements set for acoustic warning systems according to international standards. In Europe, plus China and Japan, for example, vehicles travelling at a speed below 20 kph must emit a warning signal consisting of tones or noise, to allow pedestrians, cyclists and other non-car users to detect them. In the United States, warning signals are required from vehicles travelling at speeds of up to 30 kph.

“The way the requirements are worded allows car manufacturers to design their own signature sounds. These warning signals are often tested without the complication of background noise. But in a real traffic environment there are usually many different types of sound,” says Wolfgang Kropp, professor of acoustics at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers.

Trying multiple different signals

The experiments involved some 52 test subjects and were conducted in Chalmers’ acoustics laboratory in soundproofed, anechoic chambers. The aim of the tests was to emulate real conditions in, say, larger carparks. The subject was placed at the centre of the room and surrounded by 24 loudspeakers placed in a ring at chest height. Three types of simulated vehicle sounds were played on the loudspeakers, corresponding to the signals from one, two or more electric and hybrid vehicles, plus an internal combustion engine. One of the signals consisted of two tones, one had multiple tones and one was just noise. The test subjects heard a vehicle warning signal at about 7.5 meters away, mixed with pre-recorded background noise from a quiet city carpark.
When they heard the signal, the subjects had to mark the direction it was coming from as quickly as possible. The signal comprising two tones coming from three vehicles simultaneously was the most difficult and none of the test subjects managed to locate all the two-tone signals within the ten-second time limit.

New signal types needed

The test subjects were easily able to locate the sound corresponding to an internal combustion engine. Leon Müller says this sound consists of short pulses comprising all frequencies; something that is easier for the ear to perceive than a fixed tone at a single frequency. The fact that people can more easily perceive this type of sound may also be because of its familiarity.

“Naturally, as acousticians, we welcome the fact that electric cars are significantly quieter than internal combustion engines but it’s important to find a balance,” says Müller.

Existing research has focused mainly on detectability and what is usually referred to as “detection distance”. No previous studies have investigated what happens when two or three cars emit the same type of signal. The researchers see a major need for further knowledge of how people react in traffic situations involving electric vehicles.

“From a traffic safety point of view, it would be desirable to find a signal that’s as effective as possible in terms of detection and localisation but which doesn’t affect people negatively; something our previous research has shown to be true of traffic noise,” says Kropp.

In a follow-up study, the researchers have begun investigating how AVAS signals are perceived and what effect they may have on non-road users.

About the study:

The article Auditory Localization of Multiple Stationary Electric Vehicles, is published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

The authors are Leon Müller, Jens Forssén and Wolfgang Kropp, all working at the Division of Engineering Acoustics, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Caption: Using a toy gun converted into a laser pointer, a test subject in Chalmers' acoustics lab tries to locate warning sounds from electric cars. One of the most common signal types turned out to be very difficult for humans to locate. Credit: Chalmers/Unsplash

Film from the experiments in the acoustics lab: https://zenodo.org/records/14261300

For more information, please contact:

Leon Müller, PhD student, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering: +46 (0)70-713 56 19, leon.mueller@chalmers.se

Wolfgang Kropp, Professor of Acoustics, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering: +46 (0)31 772 22 04, wolfgang.kropp@chalmers.se

Both researchers speak Swedish, German and English.

At Chalmers we have podcast studios and film equipment on site and can assist with requests for TV, radio or podcast interviews.

About current regulations:

The UN agency UNECE has coordinated current international regulations (UNECE, World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) in collaboration with industry associations.