An Associated Press story says that the Japanese government has set up a panel with automakers to study the idea of adding sound to hybrid vehicles to make them noisier — and therefore, safer – for blind pedestrians. Proposed sounds include artificial engine noises, music, or even ring tones, like those used in cell phones.
The AP story said that the government set up the panel in response to concerns from The Japan Federation of the Blind. An informal survey of 52 blind people carried out by the group revealed that more than half the respondents were “terrified” of hybrids.
A Japanese newspaper reported Tuesday that the sounds may be available on Toyota cars sold in 2010, possibly in conjunction with radar technology to sense nearby pedestrians and activate the noise when necessary.
The debate over unintended acceleration, having lingered around the periphery of the auto industry for more than two decades, may be about to receive a fatal blow.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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