Driving simulators provide the means to conduct driving research in a safe environment and under controlled conditions. Today, many research questions are being studied using virtual environments. Yet, so far, scenarios to systematically assess a driving simulator's validity do not exist and there is a need for more thorough research on the comparability of results obtained with fixed-base and moving-base driving simulators. Therefore, this study compares a fixed-base and a moving-base driving simulator in terms of their validity for various driving situations focusing on the perception of distance and speed. A moving base is expected to enhance the drivers' perception only in the case of driving tasks involving a dynamic element. For driving tasks with constant distances, the hypothesis is that the results from both test environments will be equivalent. A total of 60 participants completed various driving scenarios that included establishing and estimating distances, partly with occlusion, and accelerating or decelerating while following another vehicle. Lateral control was tested by having participants drive through a narrow passage. With the virtual environment being modeled after a real test course, results from real-life driving tests were also available and could be used as a reference. The obtained results indicate that fixed-base and moving-base driving simulators offer similar relative validity for non-kinetic driving tasks. It was found that the simulation of driving dynamics resulted in reduced perception for acceleration scenarios. For breaking scenarios, on the other hand, a moving base significantly enhanced the drivers' perception. In the lateral control scenario, participants drove with significantly higher speeds in the fixed-base simulator, which corresponds to real-life results more closely. However, the drivers' lane position was also markedly offset to the right in these tests. Yet, it was concluded that fixed-base driving simulators will allow for valid evaluations in most driving tasks. (Author/publisher)
Abstract