VIDEO: GM Testing Audio Warning System for Volt

Electric vehicles offer a lot of great benefits, like becoming dependent from foreign oil and hopefully saving money on gas. Chevrolet has been pressing onward with the new Volt lately, testing preproduction variants and other things as production nears. Electric vehicles bring up a new set of issues though - things like sound. It could be dangerous to have nearly silent vehicles whizzing by - especially for the blind.

GM recognizes the dangers and is already working to provide a solution. There will likely be a sound emitted when the car is backing up, as well as a driving sound that engineers are working to develop.

Imagine if these vehicles come widespread - in heavily-trafficked parking lots that could be a lot of beeping going on! Anyway, GM's sound engineers are using the car's horn to help develop a chirp that will alert pedestrians - it will be driver activated thing for now though, until GM can develop system that can detect the difference between cars and pedestrians. Check out the video below to hear it for yourself.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-v-pMxmHLE