Blind

You'll finally be able to hear hybrids and electric cars coming.

Need to get somewhere with your guide dog? Now you can call an Uber.

An event in Poland earlier this month put disabled people where they very rarely find themselves: in the driver's seat.

In a move to maker pedestrians safer, NHTSA finally intends to release its rules governing the sound from EVs and hybrids in November. They don't go into effect until 2018, though.

The discussion over whether electric vehicles should come with warning sounds has been going on for what feels like forever - seriously, it's been so long we've forgotten amazing little tidbits like

Some automakers are saying that adding a fake engine noise – or some other warning sound – to plug-in vehicles would subtract that "cha-ching" sound from auto dealers cash registers. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and some automakers outside the group say a mandate for artificial noise makers on electric cars could cause fewer people to buy them, Automotive News says.

It's been a long time coming – remember the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010? – but the proposed rules for the noises that electric or hybrid vehicles have to make at low speeds ha

US regulators continue to push for a mandate that makers of hybrids and electric-drive vehicles install a pedestrian-warning system on their vehicles to alert blind pedestrians, the Daily Caller reports.

Audi knows sound, and it wants its upcoming plug-in cars to have as distinctive a grumble as possible, just like its fossil-fuel-burning brethren. That's why Audi engineers are working on "new sound signatures" for future e-tron models. You can tell how seriously Audi is taking this by the way it references the sounds a car makes to music and "emotional sound structures" in the press release John Neff

Audi knows from sound, and it wants its upcoming plug-in cars to have as distinctive a grumble as possible, just like its fossil-fuel-burning brethren. That's why Audi engineers are working on "new sound signatures" for future e-tron models. You can tell how seriously Audi is taking this by the way it references the sounds a car makes to music and "emotional sound structures" in the press release Sebastian Blanco

A man gets behind the wheel of his Toyota Prius, drives to a local Taco Bell and orders lunch it the drive-thru lane. What's so unusual about that scenario?

Ford recently invited 30 visually-impaired individuals to its Merkenic Development Center test track in Cologne, Germany to put them behind the wheel for a few high-speed exercises. The program was designed to give the disabled individuals a better understanding of how vehicles behave in traffic and how they react to driver input at speed.

Anyone who has ever perused the Guinness Book of World Records knows that there is an entry for just about anything imaginable and plenty more things you just haven't yet wrapped your head around. There is apparently even a land speed record for bank managers. Well, blind bank managers, anyway. Mike Newman failed yesterday to become the first blind person to crest the 200 miles-per-hour barrier when his (unnamed)

Nissan Leaf – Click above for high-res image gallery

Hybrid and fully electric vehicles have come under fire as of late due to the quietness at which they operate. While this is seemingly a good thing for passengers of the vehicle, there are legitimate concerns that blind people will not be able to detect the rapidly approaching vehicle if it is not making any sound. Along with blind pedestrians, safety advocates are concerned that children and cyclists will be at risk from silent vehicles.

Click above for more pictures of the Vibering concept