[real-eyes] NPR Story on Hybrid Cars

From: "Jim Fettgather" <jimkc@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 23:59:50 -0500
>>>>All Things Considered (June 21, 2008) Hybrid vehicles are touted for their
>>>>>>environmental benefits and, given the spiraling price of gasoline, their 
>>>>>>economic benefits. But for visually >>>>>impaired pedestrians, who rely 
>>>>>>on sound cues from oncoming traffic, the relative silence of hybrid 
>>>>>>engines poses serious safety 
concerns. Stanford graduates Bryan Bai and Everett Meyer have developed a 
technology to make hybrid cars sound more like, well, cars. Their system uses 
miniature, all-weather audio speakers that are placed on the wheel wells and 
broadcasts specific sounds based on what the car is doing. "It sounds 
essentially like a vehicle, except the sounds are more intelligently 
projected," says Meyer, who along with Bai co-founded Enhanced Vehicle 
Acoustics Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif. "If a person is in drive mode and moving 
forward, the sounds are only projected in the forward direction," he tells 
guest host Guy Raz.
"If the driver decides to turn left or right, the sound changes on the left or 
right appropriately. So it minimizes noise pollution and maximizes
>>>>>>acoustic information for pedestrians. "Hybrids like the Toyota Prius can 
>>>>>>become eerily silent when driven at speeds less than 25 mph or, say, when
>>>>>>idling at a stoplight. At these low speeds and in stop-and-go 
>>>>>>traffic, the vehicles switch from traditional combustion engines to 
>>>>>>electric power. This boosts fuel efficiency ? but it also increases the 
>>>>>>risk for 
pedestrians. The system created by Bai and Everett's company, which was formed 
with the help
>>>>>>of a grant from the National Federation of the Blind, emits sound when 
>>>>>>the cars go into silent mode. The federal government and a handful of 
>>>>>>states are considering legislation to set minimum sound levels for hybrid 
>>>>>>cars. In April, Reps. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) 
>>>>>>introduced the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008. The bill 
>>>>>>proposes a two-year
>>>>>>study to determine the best strategy for tackling safety concerns about
>>>>>>hybrids among the visually impaired. Everett acknowledges that 
>>>>>>his company's
>>>>>>devices could be viewed as adding to the noise pollution of 
>>>>>>traffic. But, he
notes, "there's a different between noise and sound, and we view our system as 
producing sounds which have a purpose."
>>>>>>
The article can be found, and streamed online, from here:
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId?751319

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[real-eyes] NPR Story on Hybrid Cars

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