Testing Methodology of Vehicle Pedestrian Notification Systems

Transport Canada’s ecoTECHNOLOGY for Vehicles Program tests and evaluates the safety and environmental performance of advanced vehicle technologies. One area of investigation, in collaboration with Transport Canada's Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulations Group, is audible alert systems for electric vehicles. BEVs and HEVs can be significantly quieter than conventional vehicles at low speeds. The inclusion of sound alert systems that emit a detectable minimum sound is currently being studied as one option to enhance pedestrian safety. This paper will provide an overview of TC’s testing to measure/assess the noise emissions from BEVs, HEVs and conventional vehicles, and various manufacturers’ noise emissions systems for HEVs / BEVs.