After the cacophony of screeching brakes and grinding gears, there followed the comparatively static hum of engines, and drivers waited in exasperation for the next lurch forwards. For the moment there was a lull, curious on that highway. Then the waiting very quickly began to fray at the edges. The sun was beating on the metal of the vehicles, and the road lay flattened across the parched plain, with no trees to screen it from the sun. First one car horn began to honk, then a bicycle rickshaw began to clang its bell, then a truck blared its musical horn, and then the lesser ones began to go pom-pom, pom-pom almost in harmony, and suddenly, out of the centre of all that noise, a long, piercing wail emerged.

What is the setting of this scene?
There's no way to know
A hot and dry outdoor space
A chaotic indoor space
A carnival or similarly crowded event

A hot and dry outdoor space.

Based on the description given, the setting of this scene appears to be a hot and dry outdoor space. This is indicated by the mention of the sun beating down on the metal of the vehicles, the road lying across a parched plain with no trees for shade, and the mention of the drivers waiting in exasperation.