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Computer-generated driving scenes are sent to three high-resolution projectors and projected on three high-reflectance screens

Computer-generated driving scenes are sent to three high-resolution projectors and projected on three high-reflectance screens.

Data collection computer

Data collection computer.

Inside view from the driving simulator

Inside view from the driving simulator.

For more information:

Susan Chrysler
979-862-3928
s-chrysler@tamu.edu

Simulating driving behavior

The Texas Transportation Institute's Center for Transportation Safety is home to a special resource for researchers: a fully interactive driving simulator. The driving simulator allows participants to navigate a real vehicle through realistic computer-generated driving environments while controlling acceleration, braking and steering—exactly like they would in the real world.

The Center for Transportation Safety, headed by David Willis, was established to focus on health and safety issues associated with transportation. Work performed through the center is closely coordinated with safety-related work being pursued by other agencies, such as the Texas Department of Transportation.

The driving simulator comprises four components: a vehicle, computers, projectors and screens. A 1995 Saturn SL automobile is outfitted with computers, potentiometers and torque motors connected to the accelerator, brakes and steering. The Saturn also features full stereo audio, full instrumentation and fully interactive vehicle components, all of which provide the realistic feel of driving. The Saturn is connected to a computer component that consists of one data collection computer and three image generation computers. Computer-generated driving scenes are sent to three high-resolution projectors and projected on three high-reflectance screens.

Since its installation in 1999, the simulator has been used for several projects. The largest, which tested 200 participants, examined driver's preferences for left-turn signal displays. Two additional projects assessed driver distraction due to cell phones and other in-vehicle devices, such as navigation systems.

Three research projects funded through the Southwest University Transportation Center are utilizing the simulator. The first project is an on-line, two-way integration of the driving simulator with the traffic micro-simulation program VISSIM. This integration takes advantage of the visualization capabilities of the driving simulator and the traffic modeling capabilities of the traffic micro-simulation program. Larry Rilett, associate research engineer with TTI, and Jacqueline Jenkins, graduate assistant with TTI, are leading this effort.

The second project utilizes the visualization capabilities of the simulator to investigate how pedestrians interact with the roadway environment (see Simulating Pedestrian Behavior).

The final project, led by Susan Chrysler, associate research scientist with TTI, assesses methodological differences for traffic sign comprehension when tested in the simulator compared to conventional paper-and-pencil based tests.

A recent upgrade to the simulator allows more traffic to be present in the simulated environments. The addition of pedestrian capabilities is also underway (see Simulating Pedestrian Behavior). These expansions of the simulator's capabilities are already appearing in research proposals for projects with the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, National Institutes of Health, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Federal Highway Administration.

"The driving simulator provides a valuable facility to research driver behavior and a powerful visualization tool to evaluate the traditional traffic engineering areas such as geometrics and operations," says Chrysler, who coordinates the driving simulator.

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