Ginger S. Watson

The Iowa Driving Simulator: an immersive research environment

This simulators rich, fully interactive environment provides varied scenarios for meeting experimental needs-for example, engineering evaluation of automated highway systems. >

THE IOWA DRIVING SIMULATOR : AN IMPLEMENTATION AND APPLICATION OVERVIEW

This paper gives an overview of the Iowa Driving Simulator (IDS) designed to create high fidelity, operator-in-the-loop vehicle simulation and realistic cueing feedback to the driver. The paper refers to a number of human factors issues that are currently being investigated. Focus is on two specific applications of the IDS: a study of Automated Highway Systems (AHS) and vehicle virtual prototyping on a virtual proving ground.

An empirical study of the effectiveness of electronic stability control system in reducing loss of vehicle control.

A significant percentage of fatal vehicle crashes involve loss of control (LOC). Electronic stability control (ESC) is an active safety system that detects impending LOC and activates counter-measures that help the driver maintain or re-gain control. To assess the effectiveness of ESC in preventing LOC, an empirical study was conducted on a high-fidelity driving simulator. The ESC systems for two vehicles were incorporated into the simulators dynamics code which was calibrated to ensure engineering validation. The study utilized three scenarios designed to recreate typical LOC situations, and was designed to assess the effects of ESC presence, vehicle type, scenario, age and gender. A total of 120 research participants completed the study. Results showed a statistically significant reduction in LOC with ESC compared to without ESC (F=52.72, p<0.0001). The study findings of 5% LOC with ESC and 30% without ESC match several epidemiological studies that have analyzed ESC effectiveness on real-world crashes, providing strong support to the use of driving simulation for studying driver behavior. Study conclusions suggest that wide-spread utilization of ESC is likely to reduce traffic fatalities.