Electric car owners could choose which fake sounds their cars make under new proposal
Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge
The federal government is requiring automakers to include artificial motor sounds in electric and hybrid cars when traveling at low speeds to alert pedestrians, but it wants to give vehicle owners the ability to choose which sounds they use.
In a notice of proposed rule-making, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says drivers should be able to “select the sound they prefer from the set of sounds installed in the vehicle.” But NHTSA is also seeking feedback about whether it should limit the number of fake sounds that manufacturers should be allowed to install.
The proposed rule-making would be an amendment to rules that were finalized in February 2018 requiring EVs and hybrid vehicles to emit sounds at low speeds to...