Electric vehicles are required by law to emit a noise when operating at speeds below 20 miles per hour in order to alert pedestrians of their presence, since they’re normally silent compared to combustion engines. For the last few years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been exploring proposals to allow drivers to customize this noise.
However, after a period of public feedback, NHTSA has scrapped the idea, saying that EV makers must continue to make a standard option only for low-speed EV noises. According to NHTSA’s final ruling, “the great majority of the [public] comments … including those submitted by organizations and people who are blind or who have low vision, did not favor the proposal.” In fact, most comments “were in favor of more uniformity, rather than less.”
