Posts tagged silly

Not so fast Mr Whippee

News here that Audi are experimenting with a variety of different fake engine noises for their first generation of electric cars. Electric cars, for the uninitiated, are virtually silent – no noise from the motors means that only the sound of tyre on tarmac warns the blind and partially sighted of their approach.

Campaigners at Guide Dogs for the Blind are keen to have all future electronic vehicles fitted with an audible warning noise and in response to this Audi have turned to the RSQ – the fictional R8-alike vehicle they created for the film “I, Robot”.

So – when the Audi E-Tron series hits the streets in 2012 expect it to have that classy futuristic whooshing sound.

Is this a missed opportunity to think outside the box? Why not make all electric vehicles play embarrassing ice-cream van jingles at speeds over 30mph? Better still, keep the Will Smith connection and play the theme tune to “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

This could eliminate both carbon emissions and speeding at a single stroke.