Differences between vehicle lateral displacement on the road and in a fixed-base simulator.

This research studied differences in lateral displacement when driving on curved and straight road sections in real-road and simulator conditions. The authors observed 100 licensed drivers on a rural road and 100 in a fixed-base simulator. Speed and lateral position on the real road were measured by video cameras. The analysis indicates that the mean vehicle lateral displacement is generally higher on the actual road than in the simulator. However, these differences decrease for higher speeds at curved sections and for lower speeds at straight sections. It was also found that standard deviation of the vehicle lateral displacement is significantly lower on the real road than the corresponding values in the simulator, at either curved or straight sections. Actual or potential applications of this work are also discussed. (Author/publisher)