Skip to main content

TRL's DigiCar driving simulator becomes fully automated

As the path to acceptance of automated vehicles on the UK’s roads moves forward, so does TRL’s role in developing robust research tools to provide the necessary evidence as to the human response to automation and its general acceptance by the driving population. Behind the scenes, TRL experts have been working on developing the software required to enable the transition of DigiCar to run as an automated vehicle as and when required. As a result, TRL’s full mission driving simulator, DigiCar, has devel
November 18, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
As the path to acceptance of automated vehicles on the UK’s roads moves forward, so does 491 TRL’s role in developing robust research tools to provide the necessary evidence as to the human response to automation and its general acceptance by the driving population.

Behind the scenes, TRL experts have been working on developing the software required to enable the transition of DigiCar to run as an automated vehicle as and when required.

As a result, TRL’s full mission driving simulator, DigiCar, has developed into a partially or fully automated vehicle.

DigiCar provides the transport sector with a sophisticated research tool to understand driver behaviours and reactions to environments both within the vehicle itself and outside. Offering a totally safe driving experience, DigiCar provides a platform for repeatable testing, gathering accurate data for analysis and dissemination, enabling Governments, manufacturers and others to make informed decisions regarding the introduction of vehicle automation.

Dr Nick Reed, Principal Human Factors researcher at TRL and vehicle automation expert said:  “We are delighted to have completed this development using a flexible web-based platform to enable partial or full automation of DigiCar. This opens the potential for a range of studies to investigate how automation of the driving task will affect driver behaviour and how transitions between vehicle automation modes are understood by drivers.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Qualcomm: How Connected Driving Will Reduce Emissions in the EU
    September 14, 2023
    In an era marked by climate change and an urgent need for greener mobility solutions, the advent of connected driving has emerged as a promising frontier in the realm of transportation.
  • Regulating rural road use
    June 20, 2016
    David Crawford looks at problems facing indigenous communities and those unfamiliar with driving in rural areas. While it is well known that the fatality rate for road crashes in rural areas is higher than in towns and cities, some groups suffer far more than others. For instance, the rates of death and serious injury from vehicle accidents is much higher for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI and AN) populations living in rural tribal lands than for any of the country’s other ethnic populations. Crashes
  • TRL aligns with Flare VRU data
    March 1, 2023
    Adding micromobility hazard detection to iMAAP platform will improve road safety
  • TTTech joins SafeTrans transportation safety group
    March 7, 2013
    To strengthen its close cooperation with partners and experts in the transportation field, Austrian network solutions provider TTTech has become a member of the competence group Safety in Transportation Systems (SafeTrans). SafeTrans is a group of industry experts and decision makers from railway, aerospace, space, automotive, off-highway and industrial segments and academia. The goal of the group is to combine know-how regarding research and development in the sector of embedded systems for transportation