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WEIRD SCIENCE

Is this the scene of an alien abduction? Or perhaps a film set from the next Men In Black? In fact, it’s a giant microwave oven… for cars! Little more than an hour’s drive from Paris, deep within a carefully sealed bunker, lab-coated technicians bombard car after car with electrical waves. Their driving purpose: to make every Renault immune to interference from outside signals.

Aubevoye, another Area 51

Behind closed doors, Renault scientists make sure your car’s electronics don’t mess with the neighbour’s TV signal – and vice versa

It’s a world first almost nobody knows about. Since 2006, the Renault technical centre in Aubevoye, France, has brought together a dazzling collection of expertise under one space-age roof. Amid mountains of hush-hush gadgetry, a highly specialised team of thirty researchers, engineers and technicians is pushing all the limits. Here, they enhance car development, quality and performance in dramatic new ways. Here, they test and check every Renault model for Electro-Magnetic Compatibility.

Electro what?!

Control in an anechoic chamber

All kinds of devices send out signals that could interfere with your car’s electronics. And we don’t mean UFOs. The lab manager explains: “The offending machine could be your game console, mobile phone or laptop, even if it’s being used outside the car.” Other interference can come from TV signals, mobile phone masts or even thunder storms. Electro-magnetic compatibility means your car is prepared for this constant invisible invasion. Which for you means a nice clear GPS signal, great radio reception, and trouble-free operation of all your car’s other electronic systems. No matter what.

Robot workers

Life in the bunker is not for mere mortals. While the Clio or Laguna of the future is being zapped with up to 3 gigahertz of microwaves, you definitely want to be on the other side of those security doors. Says an engineer: “This is more electro-magnetic pollution than it would experience in a lifetime.” Robot drones carry out tests inside the patient by remote control. No humans are allowed. Microwave beams blast from every direction. This is not a friendly environment.

Do not disturb

A Mégane being controlled in a Faraday cage

Pyramid-shaped insulation cones bristle over every surface to keep the waves safely inside this bizarre laboratory, known as a Faraday Cage. The centre has three Faraday Cages, each insulated to contain the waves generated during testing. Without such insulation, rays could escape and interfere with local TV, radio and mobile signals for up to several kilometres. A four wheeled cage simulates driving, so the car’s electronic systems can be put to the test in conditions as close to reality as possible.

It may not be rocket science, but it does come pretty close.