Article written by Graham Heeps.

It sounds futuristic in a 1950s kind of way. The autonomous car or, in more layman's terms, the driverless car harks back to the days of the space race when post-war technology would take the strain out of everyday chores, and that included driving.

Article by: Matt Prior Editor-at-large, Autocar

I think the first time I used a car simulator that felt half-realistic was at McLaren, when it was developing the MP4-12C [road car], in 2011...  Back then, using a simulator was still a novelty for a lot of car makers. Today, hardly any would be without one. Or two. Or more. They save time, they save money and, fundamentally, they make race and road cars better. Or at least they should do...

It's hard to believe but Driver-in-the-Loop simulation has been an increasingly vital tool for vehicle engineers for over 50 years now. From early efforts that involved strapping cars into unwieldy Stewart hexapod platforms, through to today's low latency and immersive simulators, the technology has come of age. The last ten years has seen the most dramatic change, with more developments in use cases and technologies than the previous decade. 

Introducing Theta C, a compact, self-contained and powerful driving simulator that can be used to validate driver assistance systems and autonomous technologies in today’s vehicles. With its compact footprint and sophisticated computational architecture the new Theta C simulator offers OEMs, Tier 1s, research institutes, and industry bodies a more immersive and car-like environment than is available from other small simulators. Theta C also sidesteps the complexity and facility challenges typically associated with test equipment of this accuracy and calibre.

Theta C is the newest offering inside Ansible Motion’s range of Driver-in-the-Loop simulation solutions, which includes the flagship Delta series dynamic simulator.

Ford recently published a myth-busting video on YouTube, showing the benefits of using an immersive Driver-in-the-Loop simulator to help inform the design of electric vehicles, helping to make them responsive and fun to drive.  We thought you would enjoy it too so we are sharing the video here along with the transcript. 

General Motors recently pulled back the screen a little to show the world some of the technology used in the development of the 2020 Stingray in a recent interview with GM lead performance engineer, John Wilkinson.

In all walks of life, culture can have a major influence on user-behaviour. Automotive engineers have also realised this, developing different versions for global markets. Think of the recent proliferation of long-wheel-base cars for China and how OEMs have focused efforts on improving the rear seat passenger experience as an example. Such changes can make the difference between choosing one marque or another but what happens when different cultures interface with safety systems ADAS and the rising number of autonomous systems? Do protocols for such systems need to be standardised or should they be customised and how are they best validated? We put these questions and more to Kia Cammaerts, founder of Ansible Motion. Based in Norwich, UK, Ansible Motion provides driving simulator solutions for vehicle constructors and suppliers worldwide. 

Applied Ergonomics has published new research findings regarding the use of full motion driving simulators for autonomous car sickness studies.  This collaborative research project was conducted by VU University's Department of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, TNO's Department of Perceptual and Cognitive Systems, Coventry University's Centre for Mobility and Transport, and Ansible Motion.

Specifically, the following question is addressed:  Can motion base driving simulators, in principle, be used to induce motion sickness analogous to carsickness via cued motions inside specific frequency regions?

Joint 2nd place for VDI's Development Tool of the Year has been awarded to Ansible Motion for its ADAS Dynamics Testing Simulator that was developed to help car manufacturers better understand how drivers will cope with and respond to the rising number of ADAS and autonomous (AI) automotive technologies in a safe and repeatable laboratory environment.