Development and Validation of a Vehicle Simulation Platform for Driver-in-the-Loop Testing

Driving simulators have achieved such a high level of fidelity in the reconstruction of reality that they have become a fundamental research tool to enable a clear understanding of the interactions among the driver, the vehicle and the road during laboratory Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) tests. Thanks to the capabilities of modern motion platforms, dynamic driving simulators are also capable of providing the driver with realistic visuo-haptic feedback, which makes such simulators suitable for experimental studies related to the psycho-physical conditions of a human driver during specific test maneuvers. The aim of this paper is to illustrate a simulation platform that has been developed to enable DiL testing for the subjective performance assessment of a vehicle equipped with Advanced Driving Assistant Systems (ADAS). The main software and hardware components of the simulation platforms are described, and standard maneuvers are analyzed to identify the physical limitations of the motion platform and the motion ranges, within which a realistic driving experience must be reproduced.