Crack team of boffins hash out how e-scooters should sound – but they need your help*
- Reference: 1643367786
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/01/28/escooter_sound/
- Source link:
It remains illegal in the UK to use a privately owned battery-powered deathtrap, but that hasn't stopped the great unwashed – as anyone who has suddenly had to dive off the path during a parkland walk will tell you.
However, to allow the craze in a regulated environment, rental firms have been popping up all over the country – including TIER, Lime and Dott in London – as evidenced by the amount of scooters cluttering pedestrian walkways or, indeed, the local river.
[1]
But since they are near-enough silent, except for the gentle rolling of the wheels, e-scooters are faced with a similar conundrum to electric car makers – that is, how should they sound for the sake of the safety of people on the street, and particularly those with sight loss.
[2]
[3]
Michael Pfadenhauer, Porche's head of acoustics, [4]summed up the problem thusly :
There is no e-sound. It has to be invented. The sound transports the emotions of a vehicle. It gives you feedback about the potency and capability of the car... At higher speeds in sports mode, a more intense acoustic feedback is needed to make customers experience the potential of the vehicle.
OK, we doubt e-scooters are capable of much over 30mph, if that, but stepping out in front of one is still going to cause a nasty accident. So TIER, Lime, Dott and PEARL, with the blessing of Transport for London, are trying to hash out how the vehicles should sound regardless of operator or make.
[5]E-scooter fanboy so hyped for Teesside to host UK's first trial
[6]Rental electric scooters to clutter UK street scenes after Department of Transport gives year-long trial the thumbs-up
[7]City of Los Angeles sued for tracking rental scooter rides – that's the rideshare company's job says EFF and ACLU
[8]Eggheads have crunched the numbers and the results are in: It's not just your dignity you lose with e-scooters, life and limb are in peril, too
The group is consulting with "disability experts and access consultants, including Transport for All, Thomas Pocklington Trust and Royal National Institute of Blind people" and the sound will "take into account the needs of individuals including those with sight loss, hearing loss and neurodiverse conditions."
Professor Nick Tyler, director at UCL PEARL, said: "Through studying how the human hearing system has evolved, we can create sounds for e-scooters that are detectable without adding more noise to the environment. We plan to test a range of combinations of sounds and environments at UCL PEARL with people who are less likely to detect e-scooters nearby, so that we create a sound that works for all. It is a huge scientific challenge, but one that will enable everyone to feel comfortable with this new form of micro-mobility that is quickly growing in popularity."
While PEARL's adherence to the scientific method is admirable, The Register is sure that our readership might have some ideas about how e-scooters should sound. So please cast your votes in the poll below or – even better – suggest your own in the comments. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YfQhRu@zgcxBGrYDN3z5KwAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/06/sound_of_electric_cars/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/03/teesside_scooter_trial/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/01/uk_escooter_trials/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/09/los_angeles_scooter_suit/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/08/electric_scooter_injuries/
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[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I've been driving my E-Scooter to work for a year. The tires have lost all profile, and since they're solid rubber they're not easily swappable.
Sounds like they're not road legal then.
In the UK, private e-scooters aren't road legal no matter what state their tyres are in. They can only be legally used on private land.
I take it the Met are in charge of prosecuting them then.
They are slightly less illegal if you paint yours in the colours of the local hire company....
So… no motorways, huh?
There goes my cunning plan to use the M25 as something other than a carpark.
That's what I though. Just mandate square tyres and be done with it.
Certainly something with the wheels
Like a playing card in the wheel spokes… or digital reproduction changing speed/pitch based on the scooter's speed.
Missing options
* The sound of George Jetson's flying saucer.
* Jeremy Clarkson shouting "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Re: Missing options
Bojo saying over and over "I didn't know I had broken the rules"
Re: Missing options
Surely it should be Bojo saying, "I take full responsibility".
Re: Missing options
"Surely it should be Bojo saying, "I take full responsibility"."
He has to say it first.
Re: Missing options
"I'm a moron, let me through!"
Repeating:
(In Brian May's voice)
"COCK... COCK... COCK...."
Re: Missing options
I like the Clarkson idea, but only if the voice changes to "POWERRRRR" every time you hit the accelerator.
Re: Missing options
With May saying "he who is last, shall be first" when braking, and Hammond squeaks when there's a crash.
Re: Missing options
No, no, I've been advocating for years now that it should be a repeated "I'm a plonker, I'm a plonker"
Re: Missing options
A repeated announcement of "mind the sap".
Re: Missing options
I too came here to advocate for George Jetson's car's noise.
Re: Missing options
I felt like Dan Aykroyd's character in Ghostbusters, in the scene when it's time to "choose the form of the destructor": "I couldn't help it, it just popped in there."
Why did they not list the only obvious choice?
What they need to do is get the bloody things to only do a max speed of, say, 10MPH. Some I see must hit > 20MPH on the PAVEMENT!
I'm more worried about us not having any strategy for recycling them, other than landfill.
should be illegal to use until this is in place and ideally owners pay.
Yakety Sax!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHmskwqCCQ
a sound going 'WARNING: This vehicle is being used illegally on the pavement, we can take no responsibility for the actions of its rider"
"...actions of the pedestrian when he give you an upper cut".
There, FTFY.
It rings a bell
So, how to alert people to a small two wheeled personal transport that moves silently through mixed use spaces?
I can't imagine anyone has ever had to solve that problem.
Re: It rings a bell
A pavement is not a mixed-use space.
Re: It rings a bell
Preach.
You on a recreational means of motion? Take it to the streets.
Awww, you too scared to ride with all the big scary cars?
Maybe that means ain't for you. Take it on the arches.
Spoken after no less than 7 years as a bike messenger, and after vowing to respect the rules of the road at year 5. Plus, I surbived with blimminal blain blamage.
They just need to make them with bigger wheels, so you can stick some playing cards in the spokes. Problem solved.
Playing cards? Spot the posh rich kid.
Playing cards? Fucking walking stick mate!
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5IKthNYhVY
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5IKthNYhVY
That actually made me laugh out loud! Thanks!
The answer's simple. A man with a red flag walking in front of the scooter.
.
.
.
[1]Spoiler for those who don't spot the reference
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws
Forgive my thematic repetition, but as a bike messenger I recall lamenting on numerous occasions that the horseless carriages were a death knell to the messenger community...
...
... to blank stares. Not much love of language or history round these parts.
Nyan Cat
[1]24 Hour Edition
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EErY75MXYXI
The engine sound from Amiga Lotus Turbo Challenge II.
When you turn it on, it can play the theme music.
(first thought was benny hill theme music, already mentioned, and then the screams of souls eternally trapped in hell, but I guess partially covered by the poll).
Normal bicycles are silent, and can go pretty fast too. Why can't the same solution be used for e-Scooters, a bell?
Have you heard the Get-Ir e-Mopeds? No, just a faint whirr, and again, no problem there apparently.
Just the singling out of e-Scooters, because they're more affordable to the common pleb. But I would support a lower max speed in consumer models (especially targeted at younger people who will use them on pavements).
Potential Noises
In a similar manner to those "voices" that warn you of a reversing lorry, it could say
"Super Cool Hipster In Transit" constantly and if it goes faster, just say the initials in a higher-pitched tone "SCHIT".
Or:
"Arrogant bawbag approaching".
"Entitled to use the pavement whether you like it or not regardless of the law".
An old-fashioned "mee maw" police siren.
Various aeroplane engine noises, e.g. Spitfire and Messerschmitt Bf 109.
"Arrrrgh!!! Gerroutthefukinwayit'sgonnacrash!!!!"
Re: Potential Noises
those "voices" that warn you of a reversing lorry
Warning! Twat coming!
Warning! Twat coming!
Hilly from Red Dwarf
Saying: "Awooga, Awooga"
Re: Hilly from Red Dwarf
Or Kryten complaining about having to change the bulb.
Re: Hilly from Red Dwarf
Coincidentally, Robert Llewellyn who played Kryten (in later seasons), has a toob of you channel for all things electric, in relation to energy and transport, so cars, PV, and of course e-scooters!
(channel is 'Fully Charged' in case anyone is interested).
Needs a "Toast of London" spoken warning.
Curious as to why they need a noise, particularly as existing cycles and regular scooters don't make any. Plus the ones you can hire already have a bell or buzzer on them.
Plus…
The legislation change coming Saturday means cyclists and e-scooter riders should give way to pedestrians, just as EV drivers tend to give way to blind people already.
Re: Plus… NOT
Funny you mentioned that but I read this the other week
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1037306/table-of-change-to-the-highway-code.pdf
and there is not ONE mention of e-scooters.
Looks like DafT have cocked up AGAIN.
I was about to point out the hire scooters in my town don't have any kind of bell or buzzer on them, then googled to be sure and apparently they DO. Yet I did all their tutorials prior to riding and there was zero mention of it, and on the couple of occasions I've used one I've never seen it (nor have I ever heard one make any noise). So perhaps they could start by informing users such a noise making device exists.
Just ban the fecking things already. I really don't see what good they do.
No need to ban them.
Just observe that as a motor vehicle, they should be used *only* on the road, properly taxed, insured, and MOT'd. And with all the usual penalties for misbehaving drivers, only possibly more so.
Oh, and to all those idiots that just dump the damn things in the middle of the pavement when they get bored with them... I' assuming salvage rights apply?
Or just design noisier tyres and let tyre noise do the job?