The latest tech to come out of Jaguar Land Rover's skunkworks is noise-cancelling technology to reduce driver fatigue. Active Road Noise Cancellation will feature on the Range Rover Velar first, helping to make long journeys in the avante garde tourer easier.
The system uses sensors on each road wheel to monitor vibrations and pipes an opposing sound wave through the speakers to erase it, in the same way that noise cancelling headphones work. It lowers noise peaks by 10dB and the overall noise level by 3-4dB.
The system can also use seatbelt sensors to determine what parts of the vehicle are occupied by passengers, and it can tune the noise cancelling system accordingly to make sure all passengers benefit. Thus, everyone benefits from a more peaceful and relaxing journey.
Highway fatigue greatly increases reaction time when moving at speed, so reducing it is a vital part of JLR's Destination Zero plan: Zero Emissions, Zero Accidents, and Zero Congestion. A fatigued driver has a reaction time 16.72% slower than an alert driver -- making anything that can reduce fatigue a huge boon to safety.
On JLR vehicles with the plug-in hybrid option, the noise cancelling also works on engine noise, which allows the twin-powertrain set up to be even more efficient, even if it's louder, without impacting passenger comfort.
The noise cancelling is powered by Silentium Active Acoustics technology, produced by one of the leading noise cancelling suppliers.
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