By Eric Blusseau, DVN Regulation expert
UTAC, the Union Technique de l’Automobile du motocycle et du Cycle (Technical Union of the Automobile, Motorcycle, and Bicycle), was founded in 1945. Since 1946, it has been based in Montlhéry, France—near the famous Autodrome de Linas-Montléry which opened in 1924.
UTAC is a market-leading international group in mobility, testing solutions, testing systems, vehicle engineering, type approval, regulatory expertise, certification, training, corporate events, and classic and sportscars festivals. The Group provide services and systems to customers in sectors including mobility, transport, tires, and more.
UTAC operate test centres and laboratories in France—including the official Euro NCAP facility—as well as the UK, the USA, Finland, Morocco, and Germany. They also have subsidiaries in China, Korea, and Japan. There are around 1,300 employees around the world.
In France, UTAC have two test centres and numerous laboratories. All the group’s activities are carried out at Linas-Montlhéry and Mortefontaine, both located near Paris, one to the north and the other to the south. These two centres have more than 50 km of test tracks for assessing speed, endurance, ADAS, braking, dynamic platform, and more, as well as state-of-the-art laboratories for electromagnetic compatibility, acoustics, cybersecurity, and simulation. At Linas-Montlhéry, UTAC’s TEQMO laboratory and tracks are entirely dedicated to automated and connected vehicles, including all the possibilities of 5G connectivity.
UTAC have expert teams in diverse domains, who are deeply involved in the drafting and analysis of regulations. Main domains are emissions and energy, tires, acoustics, lighting, electromagnetic compatibility, active and general safety, passive and tertiary safety, ADAS, automated vehicles, and HMI.
Other experts and engineers are involved in market surveillance, management and provision of a regulatory database (RACEonline), and monitoring of worldwide automotive regulations.
UTAC are recognized as a reference laboratory and as a technical service by—and therefore can perform approval tests for—several authorities, including France (E2), The Netherlands (E4), Sweden (E5), the United Kingdom (E11), and Romania (E19).
UTAC experts are involved in developing UN regulations, and participate in all the main UNECE regulatory groups, as well as informal working groups and relevant task forces as part of the French delegation.
Particularly, the UTAC Lighting Expert attends the periodic GRE meetings at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on behalf of France. Currently he is also contributing to the Autonomous Vehicle Signalling Requirements task force (AVSR), the aim of which is to adapt the current lighting, signalling, and installation regulations for upcoming autonomous vehicles, and the task force on Lamps Under Parked Conditions (TF LUPC), who are working to define which, when, and how light-signalling functions may be activated when the vehicle is parked.
Similarly, experts from UTAC attend the relevant working groups drafting European directives and regulations.
UTAC are formally designated as a Technical Service for the approval of vehicles and components in several countries, including Japan and Australia. The relevant tests can be performed in the laboratory at UTAC, and those test reports are sent to the authorities for approval.
UTAC also are designated by memorandum of understanding with authorities of several countries, including Korea.
The photometry department is a 3-person team. There’s a 25-metre darkroom with LMT measurement system for technical tests according to UNECE, Taiwanese, Australian, and North American regulations. They can provide approval for lighting and signalling devices, and approval of vehicles as equipped.
