TRL has successfully developed a unique piece of technology that uses virtual reality in order to offer an innovative blind spot simulator rig. The global centre for innovation in the transport industry will be ideal for helping to improve the way that truck cabs are designed that roads are laid out. This new simulator could also offer a wide range of benefits when used as part of an accident investigation.

The development of the simulator could lead to some significant changes in the transport industry to benefit truck drivers. As well as the benefits that this new simulator rig could offer the industry, the new technology is also a demonstration of TRL’s focus on bringing a range of innovative technologies to market that will work to deliver safer transportation methods.

The rig is calibrated in order to allow for seat and steering wheel adjustments that would be available in an actual truck cabin. This calibration means that the simulator can offer the most realistic experience possible for each driver. The virtual reality simulation can then reconfigured to suit the physical dimensions and individual seating positions of each driver. This calibration of the rig to suit the driver means that an accurate representation of what the driver saw or would see when driving can be created.

The more traditional VR experience would use a camera randomly placed in a scene with a vague hope that is will catch something and a rough interpretation of the driver’s vision can be formed. However, with this older way of recreating accidents, placing the camera in a direct vision location is less accurate than the precise simulator that has been developed by TRL and could mean the difference between seeing a cyclist or not.

The calibrated system that has been developed by TRL means that they can more accurately test newly designed vehicles or different road environment designs safely and without having to use the necessary resources to build them first. For traffic accident investigations, the simulation can be used to accurately recreate the viewpoints of people on the scene to get a better understanding of what happened.