Integrating a Real Vehicle into a Physics-Based Driving Simulator for Human-Machine Interaction Research

Driving simulators allow quick, safe and repeatable way of testing how a particular system behavior or design would be accepted by drivers. This is especially important when testing Human-Machine Interaction (HMI). As the fidelity of a driving simulator is increased, the quality of obtained data increases as well. However, high-fidelity driving simulators typically require significant financial investments and may not be very flexible in integrating with existing systems. In this paper we intend to reach middle ground by proposing a medium-fidelity driving simulator, which provides both flexibility and reusability of the commonly used automotive components.