Theme 3: Driving Simulation

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Comparable to other vehicle manufacturers, at the initial prototype stage Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) undertakes some 30,000 individual assessments to evaluate the robustness of its vehicle design through the Design Verification Programme (DVP). The Programme for Simulation Innovation (PSI) is fundamentally targeted at improving capability to support such a DVP through testing in a virtual environment. The development of advanced simulation capability along with corresponding virtual processes, methods and tools can support the delivery of new products and concepts to market more quickly and efficiently through the provision of feedback as early as possible into the vehicle design process. If the vision of zero physical prototypes is to be realised, then the process of digital design and verification needs to accurately represent not just the physical dimensions of component and system function, but also the perceptual experience from the driver's and passenger's perspective. Furthermore, the digital design process must be underpinned by a robust development and validation programme. These ambitions drive the academic focus and industrial impact of this Theme in the development of driving simulation as an integral part of PSI. The Theme will develop a modular simulator environment to support virtual prototyping, in which performance characteristics and the interfaces between the vehicle and its occupants can be manipulated. Simulation enjoys many benefits over naturalistic studies with its main advantage being considerable versatility in the configuration of virtual scenarios that exactly match the requirement of a particular verification test. Environmental conditions such as day/night operation, weather conditions and state of the road surface can be changed at will. The parameters of the driven vehicle can be altered: for example suspension design, tyre construction and steering characteristics can be matched to an existing or prototype vehicle. Vehicle interiors, driver support systems and ergonomic design can be evaluated in an inherently safe and repeatable test environment.A well designed, flexible driving simulator with a modularised architecture is integral to the development of a virtual DVP. Theme 3 will provide such a simulation environment within PSI. The University of Leeds Driving Simulator, an existing major research facility made possible through HEFCE's Science Research Investment Fund, and whose functionality is completely under the control of the research team, will form the test-bed for the development. The research team's existing expertise in human perception and behaviour in a virtual driving environment, coordinated with parallel PSI Themes in vehicle analysis, multi-physics and visualisation, will be combined with JLR's existing knowledge-base in Computer Aided Engineering. The goal is to develop a coordinated evaluation tool that has the potential to support agile, cost-effective and efficient manufacturing processes in virtual vehicle design.