Nissan takes leading role in eVader pedestrian alert system

Nissan has taken a leading role in the development of the European Union funded eVader project to develop an audible alert system for electric vehicles (EVs).

A consortium of 11 partners have worked on the eVader system, which has taken three years to complete and is designed to tackle the safety concerns regarding quiet EVs while also keeping noise pollution to a minimum.

The system uses six loudspeakers at the front end of the vehicle linked to a camera mounted on the windscreen. The speakers can then direct a beam of sound towards pedestrians and other road users when detected by the camera.

David Quinn, Nissan's e-VADER Project Leader said: "Pedestrian safety is of the utmost importance to Nissan, which is why we already have a pedestrian alert installed in our EVs as a preventative measure. As leaders in the EV market, we were keen to use our considerable experience to examine possible systems for future development in this field. Our objective has been to find an optimum balance between ensuring the cars are detectable, whilst retaining the reduction in noise pollution, which is one of the great benefits that our EVs offer."

Read more