Ansible Motion is pleased to be an exhibitor at this week's Driving Simulation Conference & Exhibition, on 6-8 Sept 2017 in Stuttgart, Germany.

The 2017 Driving Simulation Conference (DSC) is a gathering of international academics and practitioners regarding the state of the art of driving simulation technology, research, and development. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet, attend presentations and tours, and discuss automotive simulation topics with representatives of the world’s leading car manufacturers, technology providers, and researchers.

Major exporting success is a step closer for East-of-England firms which have benefited from a multi-million pound government funding pot to help businesses gain an international foothold.

The increasing adoption of advanced driver assistance systems presents a fascinating challenge for verification and testing engineers. Perhaps more so than any other aspect of a vehicle, this is where the actions of a machine and a human driver become entwined. And it means human beings are a vital part of the test and verification process for vehicles with ADAS.

Autonomous Vehicle Technology World Expo 2017 is an international event covering all modes of automated personal transportation, from passenger cars, buses and coaches to trucks and industrial vehicles.  Exhibitors and dedicated conferences will showcase, discuss, and debate all aspects of intelligent vehicles, including research, testing, validation, and development. The conference will be held in Stuttgart, Germany alongside Automotive Testing Expo 2017, the world’s largest exhibition dedicated to new vehicle development and testing.

It’s rare that we at Average Joes get to attend events on our doorstep. Most of the time we have to get up very early, dose-up on coffee and drive halfway across the country. Not this time though. Here in Norfolk there is company you’ve probably never heard of, making very cool things indeed. This company is called Ansible Motion and they make driving simulators.

Prior to today I had two different experiences of driving simulators. The first is the most obvious, games such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport are often referred to as driving simulators but are still somewhat arcade-like. The other was at a race team HQ, a simulator they use to allow their drivers to get used to track layouts and hone their lap times. Until today, the latter was the closest I have got to real driving without actually stepping foot into a real car.

One of the major benefits of our self-driving future is just how much more gosh-darn productive we're all going to be. Instead of wasting brain power driving our cars to work, we'll sit back and let the ride do it for us. Suddenly, that time can be harnessed for our leisure or, more likely, to cram even more work into our days. But what will happen to all the people like me, who get sick at the thought of sitting in a car?

I'm not much of a car guy, because when I think about cars, my overriding memory is vomiting on the side of the highway. That smell of an overwarm car interior, heated by the air blowers turned up too high, makes me retch even to this day. In fact, even now, I can only avoid travel sickness by driving myself, with the aircon turned down low while chewing strong, mint-flavored gum.

Phil Morse from Ansible Motion will present "The Physics of Driver-in-the-Loop Simulation" during the first day of Mechanical Simulation's 2017 VehicleSim User Conference on Tuesday, May 9th at 2:00 PM EST.  The conference will take place at The Inn at St. John's in Plymouth, Michigan USA.  (See the full conference agenda for other presentations.) 

Phil will provide CarSim users with insights regarding the different types of Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulators, as well as some application examples that feature integraion with CarSim.

NASCAR champion, Jeff Gordon recently presented his driving impressions of the Chevy racing simulator. He visited the simulator facility with Alex Bowman and the Hendrick Motorsports team to see how far Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) technology is pushing the limits for NASCAR.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…

Ian Haigh, Senior Development Engineer at Ansible Motion Ltd, tells us about how vehicle development is changing, increasingly taking place via simulation, in the “virtual world.”

We specialise in designing and deploying Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulators which help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers evaluate future concepts, hands-on, in a laboratory environment. Our DIL simulators are aimed at providing realistic feedback to development drivers so they can provide feedback to vehicle design engineers early in the development process – sometimes before physical prototypes even exist.

A ground-breaking vehicle dynamics grade DIL simulator for motorcycle applications is being developed to allow manufacturers to evaluate alternative chassis configurations using riders with different styles and ability levels in a controlled, safe environment, with unprecedented repeatability.

UK specialist software company rFpro is supplying simulator software to power this Ansible Motion simulator as well as a number of digital test track models to enable direct comparison with existing physical data.  In this article, rFpro Technical Director, Chris Hoyle, dicusses this new simulation area.