Pop megastars U2 have been employed by Mercedes-Benz to produce an audio track of a different kind. The usually quiet SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive needs a sound to please the driver inside the cabin and to alert pedestrians to the car’s presence on the outside.
Fritz Eichler, Head of powertrain, explains: “We have to have an exterior sound by law, to warn people of the car approaching. There are no rules about the external sound because nothing is yet legislated. Until then, we’ll only make the sound for the cabin.”
Currently, Eichler says, the electric-powered SLS “sounds like a train.”
He added, “It just whirrs. So it now has special speakers to relay an artificial sound. It may be possible for customers to have a choice of sounds.”
And that’s where U2 stepped in. Alas, Eichler wasn’t impressed with their work so he established a special AMG recording studio, with its own staff and advisors, to do the job himself.
“We achieved the new sound by breaking it down into smaller blocks and changing the phasing. It’s like a puzzle that you take apart and then put together in a different order.
“It’s based on the V12 engine. We have also the ability to change the note of the sound so the driver can tell, with his ears, that the batteries are losing their charge.
“We can also cancel some sounds we don’t want. For example, stones hitting the underbody of the car as it’s driving. We can apply counter-acting sounds to cancel out the stones.”
Sounds like it may be even better than the real thing.
[Source: carsguide.com.au]