Editing Driving simulator (section)

== Research ==
Driving simulators are used at research facilities for many purposes. Many vehicle manufacturers operate driving simulators, e.g. BMW, Ford, Renault.  Many universities also operate simulators for research.  Driving simulators allow researchers to study driver training issues and driver behavior under conditions in which it would be illegal and/or unethical to place drivers. For instance, studies of driver distraction would be dangerous and unethical (because of the inability to obtain informed consent from other drivers) to do on the road.

With the increasing use of various in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) such as satellite navigation systems, cell phones, DVD players and e-mail systems, simulators are playing an important rule in assessing the safety and utility of such devices.

=== Fidelity ===
There exists a number of types research driving simulators, with a wide range of capabilities. The most complex, like the [[National Advanced Driving Simulator]], have a full-sized vehicle body, with six-axis movement and 360-degree visual displays. On the other end of the range are simple desktop simulators that are often implemented using a computer monitor for the visual display and a videogame-type steering wheel and pedal input devices. These low cost simulators are used readily in the evaluation of basic and clinically oriented scientific questions.<ref>Li, Z., & Milgram, P. (2005). An Investigation of the Potential to Influence Braking Behaviour Through Manipulation of Optical Looming Cues in a Simulated Driving Task. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 49(17), 1540–1544.</ref><ref>Matthews, R. W., Ferguson, S. A., Zhou, X., Sargent, C., Darwent, D., Kennaway, D. J., & Roach, G. D. (2012). Time-of-Day Mediates the Influences of Extended Wake and Sleep. Chronobiology International, 29(5): 572–579</ref><ref>Baulk, S. D., Biggs, S. N., Reid, K. J., van den Heuvel, C. J., & Dawson, D. (2008). Chasing the silver bullet: Measuring driver fatigue using simple and complex tasks. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 40(1), 396–402.</ref><ref>Telner, J. A., Wiesenthal, D. L., & Bialystok, E. (2009). Video Gamer Advantages in a Cellular Telephone and Driving Task. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 53(23), 1748–1752.</ref><ref>Telner, J. A. (2008). The effects of linguistic fluency on performance in a simulated cellular telephone and driving situation. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 1748–1752.</ref><ref>Rapoport, M. J., Weaver, B., Kiss, A., Zucchero Sarracini, C., Moller, H., Herrmann, N., Lanctôt, K., et al. (2011). The Effects of Donepezil on Computer-Simulated Driving Ability Among Healthy Older Adults: A Pilot Study. Journal of clinical psychopharmacology, 31(5), 587.</ref>
The issue is complicated by political and economic factors, as facilities with low-fidelity simulators claim their systems are "good enough" for the job, while the high-fidelity simulator groups insist that their (considerably more expensive) systems are necessary. Research into motion fidelity indicates that, while some motion is necessary in a research driving simulator, it does not need to have enough range to match real-world forces.<ref>Greenberg J., Artz B., Cathey L. The Effect of Lateral Motion Cues During Simulated Driving. ''Driving Simulator Conference North America 2003 Proceedings,'' Dearborn, Michigan, October 8–10, 2003, CD-ROM (ISSN 1546-5071)</ref> Recent research has also considered the use of the real-time photo-realistic video content that reacts dynamically to driver behaviour in the environment.<ref name="heras11driving">{{cite book |author1=Heras, A.M. |author2=Breckon, T.P. |author3=Tirovic, M. |chapter=Video Re-sampling and Content Re-targeting for Realistic Driving Incident Simulation |title=Proc. 8th European Conference on Visual Media Production |date=November 2011 |pages=sp-2 |url=http://www.durham.ac.uk/toby.breckon/publications/papers/heras11driving.pdf |access-date=8 April 2013 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== Validity ===
There is a question of validity—whether results obtained in the simulator are applicable to real-world driving. One review of research studies found that driver behavior on a driving simulator approximates (relative validity) but does not exactly replicate (absolute validity) on-road driving behavior.<ref>Mullen, Nadia. Charlton, Judith, Devlin, Anna, and; Bédard, Michel (2011). Chapter 13: Simulator Validity: Behaviors Observed on the Simulator and on the Road. Handbook of Driving Simulation for Engineering, Medicine, and Psychology D. L. Fisher, Rizzo, M., Caird, Jeff K., and Lee, John D. (eds.). Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press/Taylor & Francis</ref> Another study found absolute validity for the types and number of driver errors committed on a simulator and on the road.<ref>Shechtman, Orit, Classen, Sherrilene, Awadzi, Kezia, Mann, William (2009). "Comparison of Driving Errors Between On-the-Road and Simulated Driving Assessment: A Validation Study." Traffic Injury Prevention 10(4): 379-385</ref> Yet another study found that drivers who reported impaired performance on a low fidelity driving simulator were significantly more likely to take part in an accident in which the driver was at least partially at fault, within five years after the simulator session.<ref>Hoffman, L., & McDowd, J. M. (2010). Simulator driving performance predicts accident reports five years later. Psychology and Aging, 25(3), 741-745</ref> Some research teams are using automated vehicles to recreate simulator studies on a test track, enabling a more direct comparison between the simulator study and the real world.<ref>"[http://www.its.umn.edu/sensor/2004/winter/track.html Program develops new test track capability] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322091643/http://www.its.umn.edu/sensor/2004/winter/track.html |date=March 22, 2007 }}". ''ITS Sensor''. Winter 2004. Retrieved on February 14, 2007</ref> As computers have grown faster and simulation is more widespread in the automotive industry, commercial vehicle math models that have been validated by manufacturers are seeing use in simulators.