Driving simulator
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Driving Simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical research, to monitor driver behavior, performance, and attention and in the car industry to design and evaluate new vehicles or new advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
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[edit] Entertainment
Advances in processing power have led to more realistic simulators in recent years, beginning with the groundbreaking Grand Prix Legends for the PC, released in 1998.
Occasionally, a racing game or driving simulator will also include an attachable steering wheel that can be used to play the game in replace of a controller. The wheel, which is usually plastic, may also include brakes to add to the game's reality. These wheels are usually used only for computer games.
In addition to the myriad commercial releases there is a bustling community of amateur coders working on closed and open source free simulators. Some of the major features popular with fans of the genre are online racing, realism and diversity of cars and tracks.
[edit] Research
Driving simulators are used at research facilities for many purposes. Some vehicle manufacturers operate driving simulators. Many universities also operate simulators for research. In addition to studying driver training issues, driving simulators allow researchers to study driver behavior under conditions in which it would be illegal and/or unethical to place drivers. For instance, studies of driver distraction would be dangerous and unethical (because of the inability to obtain informed consent from other drivers) to do on the road.
With the increasing use of various in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) such as satellite navigation systems, cell phones, DVD players and e-mail systems, simulators are playing an important rule in assessing the safety and utility of such devices.
[edit] Fidelity
There exists a number of types research driving simulators, with a wide range of capabilities. The most complex, like the National Advanced Driving Simulator, have a full-sized vehicle body, with six-axis movement and 360-degree visual displays. On the other end of the range are simple desktop simulators that are merely a computer monitor with a videogame-type steering wheel.
There is considerable debate over what degree of fidelity is needed in research driving simulator. The issue is complicated by political and economic factors, as facilities with low-fidelity simulators claim their systems are "good enough" for the job, while the high-fidelity simulator groups insist that their (considerably more expensive) systems are necessary. Research into motion fidelity indicates that, while some motion is necessary in a research driving simulator, it does not need to have enough range to match real-world forces.[1]
[edit] Validity
There is a question of validity -- whether results obtained in the simulator are applicable to real-world driving. Given the inability to replicate some simulator studies on the road, this is likely to remain an issue for some time. Some research teams are using automated vehicles to recreate simulator studies on a test track, enabling a more direct comparison between the simulator study and the real world.[2]
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ Greenberg J., Artz B., Cathey L. The Effect of Lateral Motion Cues During Simulated Driving. Driving Simulator Conference North America 2003 Proceedings, Dearborn, Michigan, October 8-10, 2003, CD-ROM (ISSN 1546-5071)
- ^ "Program develops new test track capability". ITS Sensor. Winter 2004. Retrieved on February 14, 2007
