Hyundai’s ground breaking new tech revealed

The South Korean giant is working on new technology that is set to revolutionise your daily commute and make it a much more peaceful experience.

The interior of a car could soon get a lot quieter, teaming with electric drivetrain technology to “significantly reduce road noise and create a serene cabin”.

And the ground breaking tech won’t be coming from a luxury brand like Rolls-Royce or Mercedes-Benz but mainstream car maker Hyundai.

The Korean car maker claims to have developed noise cancelling technology that will substantially reduce cabin noise and individually target occupants to reduce tyre and wind noise.

The tech will make a commute in an electric car extremely peaceful

The so-called Road Active Noise Cancelling (RANC) system was developed in conjunction with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Harman, a massive audio company home to brands such as Harman Kardon, Infinity, Lexicon and JBL and since 2017 owned by Samsung.

Broadly speaking it works the same way as existing noise cancelling systems in listening for unwanted noises then sending an opposing frequency through the vehicle’s speakers to cancel the sound.

Hyundai is developing noise cancelling technology for its vehicle cabins.

However, Hyundai says the new RANC can overcome the limitations of current systems with faster processing and new sound detection methods.

RANC is claimed to detect and analyse road noise and respond with an opposing sound wave within 2 milliseconds, about one-fiftieth the time it takes a human eye to blink.

Hyundai says that is enough time to counter the 9 milliseconds it takes road or engine noises to reach vehicle occupants.

Hyundai currently has one of the biggest ranges of electric cars in Australia.

Crucially, whereas existing noise cancelling systems work better on constant low frequency sounds – such as engine noise – the new RANC is claimed to better reduce a broader range of sounds at much higher frequencies.

Using carefully placed acceleration sensors the RANC can also detect vibrations to work out what noises will soon emanate from the tyres or drivetrain, preparing a computer to counteract those sounds.

There are also microphones to monitor sounds and how well it is cancelling out unwanted noise.

The system can also tailor sound cancelling between each front seat and the rear seats, further reducing unwanted noises to calm the cabin.

Hyundai’s noise cancelling tech can also be set to reduce the sound from the rear.

Hyundai says testing has shown the system to reduce cabin noise by 3 decibels, which is “roughly half the noise level as compared without RANC”.

While the 3dB noise reduction would scientifically equate to half the sound energy, it won’t be perceived by human ears as halving the level of noise, instead having a much lesser effect (halving the perceived noise level would require a noise level reduction of about 10dB).

However, in an era of much quieter electric cars, any reduction in noise levels is important in reducing unwanted sounds that would previously have been drowned out by engine noise.

Hyundai says the new RANC will debut in an upcoming Genesis luxury car before likely flowing through to mainstream Hyundais. Also expect it to make its way to sister brand Kia.