The Stupidest “music sound” Usage.

Every year in January a lot of electronic technology professionals and enthusiasts gather in Las Vegas, Nevada for an annual trade show called Consumer Electronics Show or CES. There a visitor can see, what has the electronics industry prepared for the next year, whether those are cables, speakers, computers, fridges, or cars.

This year my attention caught a new car idea related to music. It is a completely new creation from the luxury German car manufacturer Mercedes – their electric vehicle AMG EQS 53 4Matic, and its usage of music related sounds called the Sound Drive.

At first I liked the idea of having a car reacting “musically” to every minuscule change in its position, speed, and driving. But while watching various journalists and Youtubers to go crazy about this idea, soon I realized, how trully stupid and dangerous it is. Not sure if you would see it the same way, so let me unpack it a bit more for you.

As it has been presented, this idea was born in a head of an American rapper will.i.am, about two years ago. Like few other successful celebrities as well, he spends part of his fortune on expensive cars, and also on modifying them to his own taste. This hobby brought him in contact with the AMG  subsidiary of Mercedes Benz AG, which is focusing on high-performance customization of Mercedes vehicles.

The rapper, like many other ‘fast-brewed’ rich, expressed it clearly “Having a Mercedes made you graduated from poverty to wealth”. And Mercedes AMG is even more prized status symbol of wealth for hip-hoppers. 

That part is rather understandable. What I don’t understand is, why these people who make money manipulating musical sounds, feel the need to manipulate music sounds even while driving, using their car as the tool for that manipulation. 

Here is how it works: You get into such a car, and there is some kind of music sound emanating from an endles number of various speakers in the cockpit. From this moment on, whatever you do while driving the car, will have an immediate impact on the sound you and your potential passengers can hear. Your car starts accelerating – the music sound becomes more dramatic and the sound pitch goes higher. You turn right and the musical sound goes into a major key, instead when you turn left, it changes to a minor key. The car slows down – and the sound slows as well and becomes more relaxed. And so on …

Now imagine the moment, when you as a driver/co-creator of the musical sound, suddenly decide to change the tune. You need to change something in the way you drive the car. For example – you would like to change the minor key to the major key and have it sound more dramatic. So you need to turn right and accelerate the car! Regardles of what is happening right at the same moment in front of that fancy car. Your driving is not focused on reacting to the requirements and situation on a road, because you are “creating” music sound with your car. The expected musical outcome is guiding your reactions … 

This may be an idea to try in a computer game, but definitely not on a road. 

I find this truly dangerous and quite bluntly – a masterpiece of stupidity.