Driving simulator Core

Driving Simulator [Minard 126C8]

The DSC houses a DriveSafety DS-600c simulator, which includes an actual vehicle cabin with driver and passenger seats, a center console, a fully instrumented dashboard, and the standard controls for operation.
The vehicle is mounted on a motion platform in order to simulate some motions associated with driving. The simulated driving environment is projected onto five 65” LED/LCD screens providing over 180o view, and three mini-LCD screens mounted on the rear- and side-view mirrors.

Eye tracker

DriveSafety’s HyperDrive Authoring Suite is used to model complex driving scenarios and to precisely control the presentation of stimuli within the simulated environment. CVCN researchers have full control over the environment, objects and events that might influence the driver’s behavior.

Custom enviroments

The simulation is computer controlled using DriveSafety’s Vection software for real-time updating of the displays and for data collection. The state of all vehicle controls, instruments, and vehicle position in the simulated environment is sampled at a rate of 60 Hz during simulations, enabling detailed analysis of driving-related behaviors. Response buttons on the steering wheel and center console facilitate the collection of relevant psychological data.

Studies

The Driving Simulator Core Facility provides an important tool for researchers to study perceptual and cognitive processes within the context of a dynamic and interactive environment – an environment with high ecological validity which presents challenges that are analogous to those faced by the visual system in the real world, and in a task that has obvious real-world implications. This Core facility is staffed by members of the Technical Services Core Facility.