Driving Simulator

There is a high need to optimize the transportation sector for easier, safer, and more sustainable mobility. There is currently significant effort in research and industry to deal with these challenges. However, the critical nature of this sector means that sometimes development and testing of new technologies can require long development times, relatively high budget, and raise safety concerns. 

Driving Simulators present an opportunity to quickly, safely, and cost-effectively test new technology solutions for cars. New autonomous driving algorithms, new interaction (HMI) procedures and designs, etc. can be evaluated in these simulators; in a safe, cost-effective, and rapid development process before introduction in real cars that operate on the roads. 

The Driving Simulator provides state-of-the-art facilities for evaluation of new car HMI concepts, safety functions, driver behaviour, and autonomous driving algorithms. The driving simulator uses Head Mounted Display technology (with wide field of view, low latency, stereoscopic 3D, and high resolution) for full immersion of the driver in the simulated driving experience. 

Integrated physical hardware which constitutes: a motion platform for physical simulation of force feedback/motion cues, a real car - with gas pedal, brake pedal, steering wheel, and control buttons also deliver a relatively high sense of presence and natural reaction of the driver.

The DS is actively used in automotive research in the following key areas:

• New car HMI concepts and safety functions
• Driver Behavior
• Autonomous Driving

The DS features several hardware and software systems that have been developed over the years by a diverse team of experts from research and industry to deliver the most optimal simulated driving experience, but also flexible to re-configure for a wide range of research studies. 

The driving simulator consists of the following sub-systems:

• A real car, Audi model S8
• A motion platform from DBox capable of rotation in two axes and translation in one axis
• Realistic steering force feedback from Sensor Wheel, capable of simulating steering force-feedback with three intensity levels.
• Head Mounted Display based virtual reality
• Input system the translates input from all physical systems to drive events in the virtual world in real-time
• Modular HMI system for building a wide range of HMI interfaces.
• Real-time traffic simulation, based of grounded real-world research traffic theories
• Simulation of Weather conditions
• Intuitive system to set-up experimental simulations to achieve a wide range of research goals/studies – usable by non-technical experts.