When Google approached us to create both the in car audio experience and engine tone for their self driving car, we jumped at the opportunity. Working alongside their design and ux team, we wanted to create a soundscape that is reflective of Google’s brand audio design language while providing more richness and immersion for the in car experience.

Once we kicked off the project, we held a listening workshop to understand how we wanted to flex the Google audio language to a new use case. From the listening workshop, we learned that we wanted to index on four key characteristics supporting the brand and in car experience. In communicating this we leaned into a tonal palette that was approachable, informative, immersive and delightful.

During our design process, we worked closely with the ux team in testing design concepts early to make sure the in car experience felt right, but also took spectral analysis of the electric engine tone (AVAS) to make sure it would pass the federal requirement. After three months of iterative design, we were able to narrow down a select set used for in car alerts as well as an AVAS tone that passed the new federal requirement which was a huge milestone as it was one of the first EV engine tones to be approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association.