Toyota today showed off an auto simulator that lets test drivers push cars to the limits and beyond without endangering the driver – all in the name of developing safer cars and auto technology.
Toyota’s 78-ton driving simulator is actually a rail-based giant dome that swivels, leans heavily to one side other and in general deliver the sensations of driving on real-life roads, the company said.
Toyota said other automakers have developed driving simulators, but they tend to be stationary, giving the effect of driving by shaking and rocking, and showing imagery only in one spot. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a machine similar to Toyota’s that lets drivers to feel acceleration, braking and steering.
The NHTSA’s National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) is the most sophisticated research driving simulator in the world, according to the agency. Developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the NADS offers high-fidelity, real-time driving simulation. It consists of a large dome in which entire cars and the cabs of trucks and buses can be mounted. The vehicle cabs are equipped electronically and mechanically using instrumentation specific to their make and model. At the same time, the motion system, on which the dome is mounted, will provide 400 square meters of horizontal and longitudinal travel and nearly 360 degrees of rotation in either direction. The effect will be that the driver will feel acceleration, braking and steering cues as if he or she were actually driving a real car, truck or bus.
Toyota said it had borrowed heavily from NHTSA’s technology.
Key to the virtual reality of the Toyota system is the use of an actual vehicle placed on a platform housed inside a 7.1-meter-diameter dome, the ceiling of which serves as a giant 360-degree concave video screen,
Toyota said. As the driver operates the vehicle, a tilt device, vibration apparatus and other devices manipulate the dome which has a world top-class longitudinal range of movement of 35 meters and lateral range of movement of 20 meters under precision computer control. The result is a faithful simulation of the actual sensation of driving, including a sense of speed, acceleration and riding comfort through turns and other driving maneuvers. Sound effects make the experience even more real.
Based on the Integrated Safety Management Concept, which lays out the direction of the company’s safety technology and vehicle development, TMC plans to put the driving simulator to full use in advancing R&D not only for on-board vehicle safety systems, but also for systems that support safe driving practices and integrate cars with the road infrastructure.The driving simulator, located at Toyota’s Higashifuji Technical Center in
Japan, uses video, an acceleration simulator and other technology to let vehicle researchers and developers conduct driving tests that would be too dangerous to perform in the real world or that require specific driving conditions.
For example, the simulator will let researchers analyze such conditions falling asleep at the wheel and drowsiness, inattentiveness to danger, impaired driving such as driving drunk or being too sleepy. The company said it can safely test new technology. For example, according to an Associated Press story, on a test course,
Toyota separately showed experimental wireless safety features, such as those that warn vehicles of a red light ahead through beeping and the image of a traffic light that pops up near the speedometer. The system uses infrared beacons on roadside poles. A similar technology, which uses a wireless network, warns a driver of an unseen pedestrian with a GPS device. Such warnings systems are being developed by other automakers, including Nissan and Honda. Toyota said the three automakers plan to begin collaborating on the technology on road tests next year.
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