JLR Opens New Electrified and Connected Testing Facility

As the company moves more and more towards electrified and connected vehicles, Jaguar Land Rover opened a new laboratory in Gaydon, England to test their new vehicles’ systems for electrical and radio interference.

The Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) laboratory is on JLR’s corporate campus in Gaydon, in the Midlands of England, not far from the main Solihull factory. The goal of the new facility is to make sure that their new vehicles, with all their sensors and computers, function properly.

There are a few things that have to work right. The systems within the vehicle need to not interfere with each other. The vehicle also has to not interfere with other vehicles on the road or receive interference from them that could throw the systems off. And they need to not react adversely to other electromagnetic output in the world.

The new lab has two anechoic chambers for testing. Though anechoic chambers often refer to soundproof rooms used for audio testing, they can also be used for electromagnetic purposes. One of the chambers is an “electrically quiet” rolling road used to test these systems as if the vehicle was at speed. The other lab is designed to test individual components of the vehicle.

As modern cars are more and more complex, there are a lot of systems to test. First off, there are all the base systems and computers that control engine management and body electronics. Then there’s Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, the various cellular 4G and 5G systems, adaptive cruise control, wireless charging, and blind spot monitoring.

As cars become more connected, more electrified, and just have more systems that must work right with each other, this lab is a huge step into the future for Land Rover’s engineering department. The first vehicle to utilize the lab in development, the new Range Rover Sport, is already getting ready to hit the market. Future Land Rovers we haven’t even seen yet are undoubtedly already strapped to the new quiet rolling road for testing.