A Non-Invasive Method for the Safe Interaction of Cities and Electric Vehicle Fleets

Electric and hybrid vehicles are growing in popularity. While these vehicles produce less pollution, they also produce less audible noise, especially at lower speeds. This makes it harder for pedestrians and cyclists to detect an approaching vehicle. Thus, an additional system is required to detect electric and hybrid vehicles and alert pedestrians and cyclists of their whereabouts, especially while these vehicles are driving at low speeds in cities. This paper introduces one such method based on high frequency audio emissions that are present in EVs, which arise, for example, from the process of magnetostriction. Our method is tested experimentally using four different tests vehicles, and a preliminary EV detection algorithm is also presented.