Do Blade Runner sounds dream of electric cars?

We’ve got 10 years (and two months) to go until the events depicted in Blade Runner, but in some ways we’re ahead already. No, there aren’t replicants or asteroid mining in our immediate future, but our electric cars should arrive next fall.

And some people are worried. The blind, who rely on the sound of the internal-combustion engine to help navigate city streets, might not be able to detect these new cars, for example. Even for people with 20/20 vision, audible cues can be important — when cycling, for example.

So Nissan is going to give their electric cars a “beautiful and futuristic” sound effect, which is being described as similar to the flying cars of Blade Runner (they’re known as spinners).

You can hear some samples of the “spinner” noise in the Blade Runner trailer below. Personally, I like it, but I wonder what crowded highways would sound like — and what effect it might have on wildlife. It’s spooky, a little.