Chevrolet Volt gets driver-activated warning system for the blind

Whether it's voluntary or enforced, it seems to be a safe bet that most electric vehicles will eventually break their silence in one way or another to warn nearby pedestrians -- especially the blind. Chevrolet looks to be taking a slightly different approach than most with the Volt, however, and it recently tested out its system with a group of visually-impaired folks at its Milford Proving Grounds. Rather than simply making the vehicle sound like a regular car, Chevy has implemented a driver-activated system that emits what's described as more of an "excuse me" sound than "hey you" sound whenever you want to warn people you're approaching. Of course, depending on the driver does have its limitations, and Chevy says that future iterations of the Volt are likely to incorporate a more active system that can automatically alert pedestrians. Check it out in action after the break.

[jazen Posted Nov 27th 2009 4:19PM]

Or they could make it say "Foo, get yo ass outta my way before your ass is road kill"

Oh wait, that sounds like its more suited for their SUVs.

[take57 Posted Nov 27th 2009 5:29PM]

Trials at a test track out in the woods seems kind of disingenuous, if not outright deceptive. I'll give props to GM if this works on 5th Ave. in Manhattan, Michigan Ave. in Chicago, or Sunset Blvd. in LA...

[Abyss Posted Nov 27th 2009 6:09PM]

I guess the Looney Tunes Road Runner "BEEP! BEEP!" would be too close to the "Hey You!" warning they are trying to avoid.

Seriously, this is not a bad initiative that the Chevrolet auto engineer’s are doing to try reducing pedestrian collisions.

[Honsten Posted Nov 27th 2009 6:35PM]

This would be better:

Make all blind sticks have RFID tags in them and all electric vehicles have sensors for them that let out a sound when they detect them.

What they've done here is just turn the volume down on the horn.

[techyguru Posted Nov 28th 2009 1:19AM]

All they have to do is attach a playing card to the wheel and as the wheel spins it will go vroom. It worked when I was 5 on my bicycle.

[keithwwalker Posted Nov 28th 2009 3:25AM]

Just a modified horn? I was really hoping for 8bit music from a classic video game like Mario Kart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAv_hENgRlU

[Michael Pollard Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:34PM]

Why not have the RFID tag on the car (all cars, not just the more quiet ones), and a sensor on the cane - it can vibrate when a car is approaching. The pedestrian is notified before he/she has even gotten in the road, and the neighbors aren't wakened.

Besides, the posted arrangement causes too much delay.
The pedestrian gets in the road
The driver sees him/her
The driver presses the horn/beeper, and the car makes the sound
The pedestrian determines what the sound was (since it doesn't sound like a regular horn and doesn't identify itself)
The pedestrian determines where the sound came from
The pedestrian determines the shortest route out of the way, which may not always be back (a task made more difficult due to blindness)
The pedestrian attempts to get out of the way.

The problem is that the car is going 40 and ewas only 20 feet away at the time. The ped is hit, well before he even recognizes what that sound was. It's not like blind people are going to take classes on what each car's "warning system" sounds like.

First, a horn needs to sound like a horn.
Second, no amount of horn-blowing excuses the driver from not paying attention or not slowing appropriately.

[Tegdagne Posted Dec 1st 2009 10:15AM]

What no automated braking yet? Remind me it's 2010 nearly.

By now every car should be able to sense humans and animals and make sure they do not run over them.