The classic example of the presence of an unidentified flying object (UFO) is when cars begin to behave erratically, with dashboard lights doing berserk before the vehicle’s engine cuts out. And then the probing begins, apparently, but this isn’t about the existence of UFOs. A company in Britain, one of several working on the technology, has developed a targeted pulse, non-lethal device which is able to replicate the supposed effects of a nearby UFO in cars, effectively shorting out the vehicle and bringing it to a stop.

Possible applications for such a creation exist in the military and law enforcement spheres, though there are concerns that it might prove hazardous to some vehicles it is used on. According to the RF Safe-Stop’s product manager Andy Wood, the prototype is a small radar transmitter. He explains that “The RF [radio frequency] is pulsed from the unit just as it would be in radar, it [then] couples into the wiring in the car and that disrupts and confuses the electronics in the car causing the engine to stall.”

There is the risk that certain vehicular systems, like brakes and steering, could be disrupted by the radio-frequency pulse… weapon, we guess, in a manner that would case danger to both the driver and the device’s operator. At the moment it has been demonstrated on vehicles moving at under 30km/h and the RF Safe-Stop’s disruption range is limited at the moment, making it unusable on high-speed vehicles for now. It also wouldn’t prove very effective against older cars that rely less on electronics for their movement.

But, since its a prototype, there is room for improvement and that could some day result in high-speed chases ending with more whimpers than bangs. Or crashes, as it were.

Source: BBC