Have you heard the EV noise though? In France there are a lot of Renault Zoe around, and the noise is much softer, narrower band (which might help not mask vocal frequency band) than a gas engine. To be honest, I’m grateful, otherwise I’d cross in front of one as a pedestrian or cyclist. I’d even like to see the front of city buses with some noise since, with the engine in the back, you just hear them whoosh past when they barely miss you.

It is good that safety is not being overlooked. My problem with it is in expecting us to get locked in to this particular answer to the problem, when cars are going to drive themselves more and more, with better awareness, etc. Maybe I should trust more that we'll also solve the coordination problem of switching to really quiet cars in the future.

I’m all for quiet cars. As a cyclist though I rely on at least tire noise to judge proximity of cars around. I’d guess that’s the noise floor for cars.