Electric vehicles are increasingly a part of human everyday life. Accordingly, a key issue is how these vehicles should sound to make the traffic environment safer and more sustainable. The aim of this thesis is to map, understand and discuss the communicative properties of AVAS sound in an electric vehicle and to examine these sounds as a semiotic resource for meaning making. The research questions are: (i) What characterizes the AVAS sounds that are represented in traffic today; (ii) in what way can AVAS technology be developed to contribute to a safer and thus more sustainable traffic environment, and (iii) in what ways can a sound be designed to contribute to a safer and more secure traffic environment? Two studies were carried out: Study A conducted an analysis of already existing AVAS sounds found in traffic today and in Study B an AVAS prototype was created, built and installed. On the basis of the results, chord as a semiotic resource, the absence of low frequencies, pulsating effect and the vehicle as a semiotic resource are discussed. In conclusion, the issue of the vehicle as a participant in the public space is discussed.

The increasing number of electric and hybrid vehicles in urban areas has shown to be beneficial in reducing both air and noise pollution. However, the lack of sound when driving at low speed has negatively affected the pedestrian safety since many rely on the vehicle sound for orientation. Regulatory bodies have therefore introduced minimum sound requirements for all silent vehicles, which has resulted in a key challenge for car manufacturers to develop external warning signature sounds. The objective of this project has been to study how these signals should sound in order to fit the image of electric and hybrid vehicles and minimize noise and annoyance. To complete the study, five sound concepts with different characteristics and rhythms were developed using the concept generation process. In order to gain subjective impressions of the sounds, three measurement methods were utilized. The first listening test was performed to eliminate the possibility that the sound samples would be perceived variously loud in the upcoming tests. The second listening test was performed to gain information on how suitable the signals are for electric and hybrid vehicles, and the third listening test was conducted to obtain information on how much annoyance the signals contributed with. A reference signal representing an internal combustion engine was included in the tests as well. The results of the measurement methods showed that the sound samples with long tone sequences were more preferred than those with short tone sequences, and that the artificial approach was more popular than the sound of an internal combustion engine vehicle. It was also established that additional tests need to be performed in order to confirm that these results are valid. It was suggested that field tests should be conducted and that new sound concepts should be developed based on the results of these tests.