To provide insights into how drivers react to challenging driving conditions commonly encountered on public roads, DriverLab simulates varying light conditions, including dazzling sunlight and the glare at night of oncoming headlights; varying weather conditions, including raindrops on the windscreen; variations in vehicle and pedestrian traffic; and unexpected obstacles and events which suddenly raise the driver’s cognitive load.

To meet these objectives, DriverLab has to create realistic driving dynamics. To immerse the user in the driving experience, an Audi A3 hatchback (minus wheels and running gear) is placed on top of a 6-DOF hydraulic motion platform and surrounded by a fiber-reinforced plastic projection dome which affords a seamless 360-degree field-of-view. A surround sound system accurately reproduces tyre rumble, wind roar, engine noise, and sounds from other traffic.

Essential to the realism is the feel and responsiveness of the car’s controls. Key parts of Audi’s hardware have been retained, such as the front seats, dashboard, steering wheel, pedals and secondary switches and controls. Cruden worked with a German company, digital workbench gmbh, to integrate the Audi into the simulator with in-car functionality. This included the steering, throttle, brakes, dashboard, warning signals, windshield wipers, headlights, radio, infotainments, and ABS shaker. The cockpit also contains customisable interfaces and sophisticated physiological measurement devices, including a combination of EEG and eye-tracking, to monitor driver engagement and workload.

DriverLab was developed to research autonomous and semi-autonomous driving amongst other studies into drivers.