A Method to Assess the Effect of Vertical Dynamics on Driving Performance in Driving Simulators: A Behavioural Validation Study

Abstract

This paper reports on a study which investigated the effects of adding vehicle vibrations on the driving simulator’s validity in terms of the stabilization performance. For this reason a motion-based simulator with three degrees of freedom was upgraded to present a realistic perception of engine and road surface induced vehicle vibrations which improves the overall immersion of the simulator. The study showed that representing vertical dynamics to the participants improves the lateral stabilization performance at nearly constant longitudinal stabilization performance and self-reported simulation sickness scores. This improvement leads partially to absolute validity for the stabilization performance. However the study also shows that the presentation of vehicle vibrations leads to an increase in self-reported audible and temporal mental demand. To improve the self-reported mental workload further examinations are necessary.