From: cyberoid@u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson)
Subject: Re: APPS: VR car simulator
Date: 15 Aug 1995 07:43:56 GMT
Organization: Worldesign Inc., Seattle



I have before me an article from Commercial Motor magazine, February
1995, featuring an article, "Virtual reality rollovers," by Brian
Weatherly.  This is a British truck industry magazine.  The article
discusses a simu- lator used for training truck drivers even in
extreme cases like rollovers.  The actual device is manufactured by
the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute in Linkoping; it
seems to be one of a kind, from the description.  A one-day course
costs L150 (about $250).  Three hundred drivers, spurred on by their
insurer, Trygg Hansa, took the course in 1994.

Not only can the simulator replicate trucks on the road, it can also
do large snow cats used in the Arctic region for transport and rescue
missions.  The system employs a motion platform capable of a
180-degree rotation and presents the driver with a 120-degree visual
wraparound, using overhead projectors.

Weatherly ends his little adventure (including a rollover in an Arctic
snow cat) with this admonition: "Can truck simulators really teach
drivers to deal with emergencies on the road?  Judging by CM's
experience with Protectum's Truck Simulator, the answer is a
resounding yes.  This is an area of technology which the UK industry
would do well to consider."

A footnote adds that Sweden's famed Karolinska Institute is
investigating sleep deprivation and its effect on drivers using the
same device.

I'm unaware of as comprehensive a simulator in North America.


Bob Jacobson
Worldesign Inc.
Seattle