Ansible Motion, a manufacturer of Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulators, has been working with the Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED) in the UK to support a new PhD study into human driver behaviour, funded by Toyota Motor Europe.
For over 25 years, researchers at CUED have been examining driver-vehicle dynamics with a view to enhancing vehicle design and safety. This latest study aims to compare the steering behaviour of novice and expert drivers during extreme vehicle manoeuvres, to identify distinct learning patterns and control styles.
Initially, existing experimental data from an instrumented vehicle on a test track was used for the study, with drivers repeatedly performing identical obstacle avoidance manoeuvres. From this data, differences in steering and learning strategies between drivers were identified.
The repeated manoeuvres used for the existing data limited what could be learned about the evolution of a driver’s steering strategy. A virtual test-driving experiment was then devised, in which 20 test subjects steered a vehicle along randomly curving paths using Ansible Motion’s dynamic Delta S3 DIL simulator.
Software from Ansible Motion’s sister company, rFPro, which offers an engineering-grade visual simulation environment, helped generate early results, which confirmed differing learning rates between drivers, validating the approach.
The final analysis comparing the data from Ansible Motion’s simulator with the theoretical model will be completed in late 2025, offering further insights for future vehicle design and driver-assistance systems.
David Cole, a professor of mechanical engineering at CUED, said of the project: “Cambridge University Engineering Department has been researching driver-vehicle dynamics for over a quarter of a century, aiming to improve vehicle design, performance and safety. Our most recent work is analysing how novice and expert drivers learn steering control.
“In order to collect experimental data in a safe and consistent environment, we made the decision to use a driving simulator with immersive motion and graphics. We are very grateful to Ansible Motion for their generous in-kind contribution to the research, by providing access to their simulator software, hardware and technical support.
PhD researcher Harry Fieldhouse took 20 test subjects to Ansible Motion’s R&D centre and performed the experiment, which ran according to plan.”
The Delta S3 DIL simulator used in the work includes a six-degree-of-freedom Stratiform motion system and wrap-around projection graphics, which provide a fully immersive environment for collecting precise data on driver responses. The simulator’s ultra-low latency and large excursion capability ensure realistic dynamics, which is critical for studying human-vehicle interactions in research studies such as CUED’s.
Dan Clark, managing director of Ansible Motion, added: “Studies such as this bridge the gap between academia and industry, so we’re proud to support Cambridge University Engineering Department’s ground-breaking research into human driver behaviour. This investigation underscores the role of vehicle simulation in shaping the future of automotive engineering and development.”
