Univ. of Ala. unveils its new driving simulator program

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) - University of Alabama leaders cut the ribbon on its new driving simulator program Thursday.

Inside a darkened room at the UA College of Arts and Sciences, an experiment - a working lab involving a Mercedes built 350 GLE SUV, one that measures driving behavior. But there’s no engine in this Benz - supercomputers make up the engine cavity and high tech cameras on the dashboard.

“The driver is able to get into the vehicle. It’s very immersive, realistic, but instead of driving on the real road, they’re actually driving in a simulating environment,” said Dr. Despina Stavrinos, UA Institute for Social Science Research, Chair.

It’s a mix of academics and highway transportation engineers.

“And what makes that unique is we know the number one contributor to motor vehicle crashes is driving behavior,” said Dr. Stavrinos.

And that’s the purpose - give participants an idea what their behavior looks like when talking on the phone, texting, or even fiddling with the radio knob.

“We are facing an aging driving population, this is a human factor when we’re relating to driving and we’re moving into an era in this state of medical marijuana,” said Dr. Steven Jones, Alabama Transportation Institute Interim Director.

“It’s difficult to actually put drivers in realistic conditions. For example, we couldn’t ask drivers to go out and text message so we can see how their behavior changes while they’re doing that. It would be very dangerous. A driving simulator offers an ethical approach to studying these things,” said Dr. Stavrinos.

It’s based on research, data and understanding how teenagers learn driving, as an example.

“Can we identify targets that put them as risk so we can train them and make them safer?” said Dr. Stavrinos.

The results will then be disseminated through outreach programs plus there is a portable version of this program they’ll bring into schools across the state.

A vehicle to safer driving starts with the High Fidelity Driving Simulator Program, one more effort to cut out bad behavior and save lives behind the wheel.

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