Developing a low-cost driving simulator for the evaluation of in-vehicle technologies

ABSTRACT

We present a case study concerning the development of a driving simulator at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs. By relying largely on off-the-shelf components, we have kept the total system cost under USD 60,000, yet attained a level of fidelity comparable with more expensive, custom-built research simulators.

REFERENCES

• 1: Atchley, Paul and Jeff Dressel, "Conversation Limits the Functional Field of View," Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, vol. 46, p. 664--673, 2004
• 2: Baron, A. and Green, P. "Safety and Usability of Speech Interfaces for In-Vehicle Tasks while Driving: A Brief Literature Review," (Technical Report UMTRI 2006-5). University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI, 2006.
• 3: Bob's Track Builder. http://www.bobstrackbuilder.net/. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 4: Chisholm, Susan L., Jeff K. Caird, Julie Lockhart, Lisa Fern, and Elise Teteris, "Driving Performance while Engaged in MP-3 Player Interaction: Effects of Practice and Task Difficulty on PRT and Eye Movements," Driving Assessment, 2007.
• 5: D-BOX Technologies, Inc. http://www.d-box.com/gaming/en/gaming/pro-gaming-series/gp-pro-200-rc/. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 6: Forlines, C., Schmidt-Nielsen, B., Raj, B., Wittenburg, K., and Wolf, P. A Comparison between Spoken Queries and Menu-based Interfaces for In-Car Digital Music Selection. In Proceedings of International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT '05) (Rome, Italy, September 12--16, 2005). IFIP, Amsterdam, 2005, 536--549.
• 7: Horrey, W. J, Wickens, C. D., Consalus, K. P. "Modeling Drivers' Visual Attention Allocation While Interacting With In-Vehicle Technologies". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 12, 2 (2006), p. 67--78.
• 8: Image Space Incorporated. rFactor. http://www.rfactor.net. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 9: Lai, J., Cheng, K., Green, P., and Tsimhoni, O. 2001. On the road and on the Web?: comprehension of synthetic and human speech while driving. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Seattle, Washington, United States). CHI '01. ACM, New York, NY, 206--212. DOI=http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/365024.365100
• 10: Mitsubishi Electric Corp. MegaView Wall. http://www.mitsubishi-megaview.com/products/modelVS-50XL50U.html. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 11: Motor Trend. "Toyota's Driving Simulator: Not All Fun and Games." http://www.motortrend.com/auto_news/112_news260711_to votas_driving_simulator/index.html. Retrieved 1 June 1, 2009.
• 12: Muttart, J. W. et al., 2007. Driving Without a Clue: Evaluation of Driver Simulator Performance During Hands-Free Cell Phone Operation in a Work Zone. Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2018, pp. 9--24
• 13: Nuance, Inc. "Amazing Race: Distracted Driving" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v7hpRBCW5c. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 14: Realtime Technologies, Inc. On-Road Simulator. http://www.simcreator.com/simulators/onroadsim.htm. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 15: RFactor Central. http://www.rfactorcentral.com/. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 16: Seeing Machines, Inc. FaceLAB. http://www.seeingmachines.com/product/facelab/. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
• 17: Society of Automotive Engineers, 2004. SAE Recommended Practice Navigation and Route Guidance Function Accessibility While Driving (SAE 2364). Society of Automotive Engineers, Warrendale, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
• 18: Strayer, D. L. et al., 2001. Cell Phone-induced perceptual impairments during simulated driving. In Proceedings of the International Driving Symposium on the Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design. Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Benchmarking

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Evaluation/methodology; Prototyping

General Terms:
Design, Economics, Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords:
automotive user interfaces, driving simulation, human-machine interfaces