Brigade launches QVS sound system for hybrid and EVs

Electronic vehicles (EVs) are a technical marvel – but vulnerable road users (VRUs) can’t hear them, which creates obvious safety problems. Brigade Electronics says help is at hand with its Quiet Vehicle Sounder (QVS), a speaker system which the company says reduces collisions between pedestrians and hybrid and EVs. The QVS, also known as an acoustic vehicle alerting system, simulates the sound characteristics of an internal combustion engine by emitting a blend of bbs-tek white sound frequencies th
March 21, 2019 Read time: 1 min
Electronic vehicles (EVs) are a technical marvel – but vulnerable road users (VRUs) can’t hear them, which creates obvious safety problems.


4065 Brigade Electronics says help is at hand with its Quiet Vehicle Sounder (QVS), a speaker system which the company says reduces collisions between pedestrians and hybrid and EVs.  

The QVS, also known as an acoustic vehicle alerting system, simulates the sound characteristics of an internal combustion engine by emitting a blend of bbs-tek white sound frequencies that are used in vehicle reversing alarms.

According to Brigade, the solution changes pitch according to the speed of the vehicle and produces a sound that a VRU can identify as a vehicle.

The QVS can be retrofitted to most commercial vehicles and works from a 12 or 24 volt power source to avoid draining the power of a hybrid vehicle or EV, the company adds.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cooperative infrastructure systems waiting for the go ahead
    February 3, 2012
    Despite much research and technological promise, progress towards cooperative infrastructure system deployment is still slow. Here, Robert Cone and John Miles take a considered look at how and when it might come about. From a systems engineering viewpoint it looks logical and inevitable that vehicles should be communicating between themselves and with the road infrastructure. But seen from a business viewpoint the case is not proven.
    Read More
  • US DOTs introduce measures to stop wrong-way driving
    March 28, 2018
    Wrong-way driving (WWD) is a remarkably innocuous term for incidents that all too often cause some of the worst accidents that emergency services have to deal with. Several US states are now taking steps to minimise the problem, as Alan Dron finds out. You’re driving down a highway at night when you see approaching headlights. You initially assume they are merely those of an oncoming car on the opposite carriageway. It’s only when they are within 200 yards or so that you realise that the other driver is in
    Read More
  • Manchester seeks smart but not selective transport solutions
    January 25, 2018
    Smarter transport relies on better communications both with travellers and between transport providers. Andrew Williams reports. Inrix’s prediction that the cost of traffic congestion will rise by 63% to £21bn per year by 2030 clearly illustrates that, in addition to the ongoing inconvenience and inefficiency, ongoing gridlock is a significant drain on the economy. It is against this backdrop that a Cisco-led consortium has launched CitySpire, a smart transport programme that uses location-based services a
    Read More
  • Congestion pricing - no such thing as a free ride
    October 2, 2018
    The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles is likely to increase congestion, many experts believe. But Wes Guckert of Traffic Group believes that tolling could provide the answer. While it is still hard to wrap your head around the idea of getting into a vehicle without a driver, the industry is now used to hearing, reading, participating in the advancement of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Those in the industry have heard about Uber delivering a shipment of Budweiser, or the convoy of driverless trucks
    Read More

Highlighted Content