Can’t hear the sirens? Your car may soon be able to listen for you

Future cars may soon have ears, too. While drivers jam to their favorite road trip playlist, this new tech will ensure they can hear essential signals from a distance and be quickly informed about them.

Sound signals are used in many situations on the road, with sirens from ambulances, firetrucks, and the police being the obvious examples. However, it can sometimes take time for drivers to hear and react to emergency vehicles.

That’s why acoustic technology, which can gather sounds from nearby environments, could prove useful, especially for autonomous vehicles. Interesting Engineering has shared a report about Fraunhofer IDMT, the creator of the Hearing Car project.

Instead of relying only on cameras and radars, the researchers created The Hearing Car, a demo vehicle with AI software and microphones that can identify and classify sounds on the road.

The sensors can withstand extreme temperatures, rain, and wind, and are placed in a way that allows them to pick up sounds even on a highway.

The car has already been tested in real-life conditions when it was driven from Portugal to the Arctic Circle.

The technology can direct signals such as sirens, horns, or warning calls to the driver’s ear through the headrest to ensure that drivers hear important signals.

This acoustic technology has been created by collaborating with automotive suppliers and manufacturers.

The same technology could also allow users to give voice commands to their vehicle, such as asking to “open the trunk.” This feature would also include speaker verification to ensure that only authorized people are using it.

And the researchers aren’t limiting themselves to road monitoring alone. It’s been reported that they’ve also been working on features to monitor drivers’ health, such as their heart rate, breathing, and brain activity, which could tell whether there are any signs of fatigue.

The team has also worked on the YourSound virtual sound assistance system, which allows passengers to adjust audio levels to their liking more easily.