Not 100% on-board with this. I’m a believer in being responsible for yourself. If you don’t have the sense to look before stepping into a road, I’m not sure there’s much help possible. Modern cars have MUCH quieter engines than in previous times, but no-one is demanding a minimum noise level, in fact, the opposite is true, there ARE limits on too noisy.
I appreciate there are some people who can’t see at all and there’s an argument for protecting those individuals, but the majority of blind people tend to either have company, a dog, or a visible white stick, so there are already some systems in place to protect them.
Generally, I’m not a fan of rules for the sake of rules, and I accept that it is very possible, if not probable that my response above is strongly influenced by that attitude.
As regards the original post, however, it’s assuming that Manufacturers are artificially inflating prices. With any new technology, there is (and needs to be) a period of time where there is an aspect of recovering development and reseach costs, so new things are “over-priced” for this VERY good reason. Without the ability to recover start-up costs, no-one would ever start anything and development would be severely reduced.
"Man is born in freedom, but he soon becomes a slave, in cages of convention, from the cradle, to the grave."