A full-size sedan equipped with a state-of-the-art data collection system is Wayne State University’s newest research tool to study driver performance under hazardous conditions while in a safe environment. 

Data collected in a virtual environment will assist researchers and industry leaders in developing new products and practices to reduce injuries and fatalities.

"The driving simulator will greatly enhance our research capabilities in the areas of driver rehabilitation and community mobility,” said Joseph M. Pellerito, Jr., associate professor in the occupational therapy program. Pellerito was instrumental in obtaining attaining the driving simulator, which was donated by Motorola and has an estimated value of $225,000.

Located in the University’s Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the driving simulator replicates the interior of a vehicle featuring steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, ignition switch, rear and side view mirrors, headlights, gear shift, and turn signals. It is housed in a laboratory which features an adjacent observation room equipped with a one-way mirror. 

The laboratory has five viewing screens that offer a 220 degree field of view. The simulator’s software enables researchers to recreate typical and atypical driving scenarios, including monotonous freeway driving at various times throughout the virtual day. Lighting, weather conditions, damage threshold, and surface friction also can be manipulated in the virtual environment.

Pellerito is preparing to use the driving simulator to examine the effects of a rapid-onset cool air temperature within a vehicle. “Preventing motor vehicle crashes caused by fatigue and drowsiness has become a major focus of researchers,” he explained.  “Our research to maintain a cool temperature in a vehicle is one tactic to increase or restore driver alertness and reduce crash risks or incidences.”

The media will give the simulator a test drive in a press conference Wednesday.