Renault has teamed up with a French electronic music legend to create futuristic soundtracks for their forthcoming all-electric vehicles. If you're over 40, you probably don't need me to introduce you to Jean Michel-Jarre. The French sound magician, whose breakthrough album was 1976's Oxygene, is revered throughout the electronic music community.
As a concert promoter and sound engineer of note, he has attracted millions of fans to his shows worldwide. In this role, he and Renault have embarked on a mission to design groundbreaking audio for autonomous and self-driving vehicles.
In fact, his imprint can be heard in Renault Megane Electric's opening sequence, composed by Jean Michel-Jarre. Through this partnership, the group hopes to transform electric vehicles into experimental performance venues. Also, the forthcoming Scenic Vision will be the first vehicle to feature this technology.
"In a car, you have an excellent opportunity to integrate your technological needs with those of the outside world. Since Renault is an automaker with a penchant for cutting-edge tech, I plan to fill future models with a wide variety of auditory stimuli, "Jean Michel-Jarre puts it this way.
There are three distinct topics that the partnership will address. "Less is more", a new sound signature for Renault and Sonic Road.
The emphasis of "Less is More" is on Scenic Vision's in-built technology. It's a cutting-edge setup with door-mounted subwoofers and in-headrest "sound bubbles." In addition, acoustasonic bubbles are produced around each seat's headrest. Because of this, you can listen to the audio without disturbing the other people in the car.
The new sound universe created by Jean Michel-Jarre is called New Sound Signature for Renault, the second component. Here, for instance, there are dedicated soundscapes for things like the car's greeting noise when you first enter and its low-speed idling noise.
Finally, "Sonic Road" serves as the third component. A patented system that takes into account the listener's personal tastes in music as well as environmental factors like time of day and the weather to generate an original soundtrack.
In the beginning, Renault and Jean Michel-Jarre have a three-year contract. The collaboration's partial fruits can be seen in the Renault Megane Electric's Harman Kardon audio system, but the whole fruits will be seen in Renault's forthcoming electric vehicles.
