Feb. 18, 2020—Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT) in Oldenburg, Germany, to create an A.I.-based solution that allows cars to listen, and respond to, their surroundings, reported Digital Trends.

The technology uses a microphone placed inside a modified roof fin. This links to a control unit containing software that powers the system. The software uses a library of different noises and computer algorithms that enable it to recognize the acoustic signature of specific sounds while discarding irrelevant background noise.

The technology would be a way to alert drivers of important events nearby.

Fraunhofer IDMT also designed its own so-called “beamforming algorithms” that allow the technology to dynamically locate moving sound sources such as a siren on an approaching emergency vehicle.