A High Fidelity Driving Simulator as a Tool for Design & Evaluation of Highway Infrastructure Upgrades

To create and test the capability of the WTI Driving Simulator for evaluating drivers’ responses to proposed highway infrastructure improvements and safety deployments.

High fidelity driving simulators provide an opportunity to simulate and test drivers’ responses to improvements in infrastructure, information and warning messages, and other deployments. The planned deployments on U.S. 191 in the vicinity of Big Sky, Montana are an excellent opportunity for using a simulator for rapid prototyping. For many of the scheduled deployments of curve, ice, and excessive speed warnings, driving simulation would provide a tool to refine the plan for location, visibility, and message sets. WTI proposes to create and test a simulation capability, using our existing simulator, to quickly and inexpensively evaluate these proposed deployments. WTI proposes to employ a rapid prototyping approach, using the Driving Simulation Laboratory and custom tiles representing sections of U.S. 191, to help MDT develop and refine safety countermeasures for that roadway. With MDT advice, WTI will specify and obtain custom tiles and entities representing appropriate sections of U.S. 191. Projected safety-related system deployments will be electronically simulated on these tiles. A sample of drivers will then drive through the scenarios to test the effectiveness of deployments. If changes in the systems are suggested, the simulation can be easily altered to represent the new specifications and the refinements evaluated.