CE 694 Credit Seminar

Validation Study of Driving Simulator

Presented by

K.Raghupathi

153040008

Under supervision of

Prof. P. Vedagiri

Introduction

Driving simulator a technical device which creates the

virtual-reality of driving.

Important research tool in Transportation research

Especially in road safety

It allows safe and relevant environment to test driving

performance

2

Different Driving simulators

(https://www.carsim.com)3

Objective of the study

To have a good command of driving simulators

To know its use in various fields

Mainly focuses on validation

A typical simulator necessarily needs validation

A validation study of UC-win/Road driving simulator has

been discussed.

4

Background

Need for the driving simulator:

• Human Factor/ Driver behavior studies

• Evaluation and Design of Transport/Road Infrastructures

• Education and training

Types vary from fixed ones to moving based ones

Advanced ones has high level applications like Engineering

development, ADAS, ITS etc.

5

Advanced Driving simulators

NADS-1 Driving simulator(https://www.nads-sc.uiowa.edu)

VTI driving simulator IV(www.vti.se/driving-simulators)

6

Literature review

Validity : Extent to which results obtained are true.

Simulator validation can have various approaches,

methodologies and criteria.

Validation approach :

Analytical approach

Experimental approach

7

Validation methodology:

Define the validation approach

Define the validation objectives

Define the independent variables

Define the dependent variables

Define the type of statistical test

Analysis of the results

Validation Criteria

Internal and external validity criteria

Relative and absolute validity criteria

8

Outcome from literature review:

Present study carried under analytical approach.

Drivers are requested to perform driving in both

assessments.

A statistical test is used for comparison.

Internal and external criteria is considered as the primary

concern is driving behavior.

9

Case study

A validation study of driving errors using a driving simulator

Lynn Meuleners and Michelle Fraser

A laboratory based driving simulator-UC-win/Road driving

stimulator is used

(http://www.forum8.co.jp)10

Methodology

On-Road driving assessment:

Study area : Stretch of road in Perth city, Western Australia

Participants: 47 (26-male and 21-female, 18-69 years)

Route consists :

Two give way signs

One stop sign, One merge

Three uncontrolled intersections

Five sets of traffic lights

Five roundabouts11

Driving simulator assessment:

Route is replicated in simulator

All traffic conditions except hazardous situations were

implemented

Same participants were used

Errors measured by driving assessor

On road driving assessed by Occupational therapist

15-20 minutes taken to complete

12

Images in driving simulator corresponding to on road routes

(Lynn Meuleners and Michelle Fraser)

On-road driving route(Lynn Meuleners and Michelle Fraser)

13

Performance measures

Special driving assessment sheet

Error measurements are

Observation : Mirror checking

Speed control : Correct speed for road

Planning and judgment

Vehicle positioning : Gap selection

Physical control of vehicle : Indicators using

Road laws : Obeying signs

14

Results and discussion:

Statistical test used: paired sample t-tests

Simulator

Mean (SD)

On-road

Mean (SD)

p-value

Mirror checking 1.57 (1.15) 2.00 (1.42) 0.12

Left, right, forward observations 1.00 (1.42) 1.05 (1.44) 0.84

Correct speed for road 0.15 (0.67) 1.10 (1.45) <0.001

Maintaining speed 0.10 (0.55) 0.06 (0.01) 0.15

Speed at intersections 0.73 (1.30) 0.68 (1.26) 0.82

Gap selection 0.01 (0.03) 0.36 (0.99) 0.06

Maintaining lane positioning 0.57 (1.19) 0.15 (0.67) 0.02

Obeying stop signs 0.41 (0.01) 0.52 (0.39) 0.31

Obeying traffic lights 0.03 (0.01) 0.05 (0.39) 0.32

Indicating 2.26 (1.30) 1.73 (1.49) 0.04

Total errors mean 12.78 (6.30) 13.78 (6.98) 0.46

15

Conclusions of case study:

Study can approximate specific driving tasks

• mirror checking

• speed at intersections

• left, right and forward observations

• maintaining speed and violation signs

Significant difference in

• lane position maintenance

• gap selection

• indicating and driving the correct speed

16

Limitations:

The sample size considered was small

Two researchers of the study (ICC:0.6-0.8)

Failing to provide immediate responses

Some road characteristics are not replicated properly

volunteer bias of the sample

17

Conclusions

Proper validation methodology required to get accurate

outcomes of the study.

Considerable amount of sample size to avoid statistical

limitations.

Participants must be same for both assessments.

programmer should replicate real driving conditions in the

simulator

There is no exact driving behavior of the driver in simulators

18

Future scope

Future research is needed to find validation failure causes

for some tasks.

Proper programming is required to ensure at most

replication of real scenario.

19

References Allen, R.W., Mitchell, D.G., Stein, A.C. and Hogue, J.R. (1991). Validation of

real-time man in the loop simulation. VTI Report. No 372A, Part 4, pp. 18-31.

Bella, F. (2008). Driving simulator for speed research on two-lane rural

roads. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 40(3), pp.1078-1087.

Blaauw, G.J. (1982). Driving experience and task demands in simulator and

instrumented car: a validation study. Human Factors, 24(4), pp. 473-486.

Blana, E. (1996). Driving Simulator Validation Studies: A Literature Review.

Institute of Transport Studies, University of Leeds, UK, Working Paper 480.

Carsim.com, (2015). Mechanical Simulation Corporation. [online] Available at:

https://www.carsim.com [Accessed 17 Sep. 2015].

20

Dorn, L. and Barker, D. (2005). The effects of driver training on simulated

driving performance. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 37(1), pp.63

Godley, S., Triggs, T. and Fildes, B. (2002). Driving simulator validation for

speed research. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 34(5), pp.589-600.

Meuleners, L. and Fraser, M. (2015). A validation study of driving errors using a

driving simulator. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and

Behaviour, 29, pp.14-21.

Nads-sc.uiowa.edu, (2015). The National Advanced Driving Simulator. [online]

Available at: https://www.nads-sc.uiowa.edu [Accessed 17 Nov. 2015].

Statistics Solutions, (2015). Paired Sample T-Test - Statistics Solutions. [online]

Available at: http://www.statisticssolutions.com/manova-analysis-paired-

sample-t-test [Accessed 30 Oct. 2015].

21