Other VR Applications

It is common practice to develop vehicle simulators based on physical mockups. They might be equipped with hydraulic platforms or based on a real car placed in front of large rear-projection screens. The primary application of vehicle simulators is driver training and behavior analysis (see Figure 13.1); they have also been used for virtual prototyping.

Most car manufacturers use vehicle simulators as part of product conception. Car simulators allow engineers to test the car before it is built and evaluate ergonomic aspects, interior design and even road behavior.

For virtual prototyping, simulators based on physical reproduction of cabins require substantial time and cost to be manufactured. Therefore, they cannot be reconstructed each time to reflect every part updated on the CAD design. In particular, this difficulty appears when performing ergonomic and visibility evaluations according to changes in the car interior.

Immersive Virtual Reality provides a natural alternative. Virtual prototypes can replace physical mockups for the analysis of design aspects like: layout and packaging efficiency; visibility of instruments, controls, and mirrors; reachability and accessibility; clearances and collisions; human performance; and aesthetics and appeal. The goal is to immerse a person in the virtual car interior, to study the design and interact with the virtual car.

Completely virtual car simulators suitable for analysis activities are still unfeasible due to the limitations of the technology, in particular concerning the haptic feedback. Nevertheless, some prototypes have been developed and tested.