CityCar Driving Simulator

Team

Chris Post and Praveen Subramani

Project Brief

In next-generation electric vehicles, drive-by-wire technology will allow us to replace mechanical linkages for steering, throttle, and braking with electronic controls. This enables a wealth of possibilities for controlling electric vehicles; we can make almost any physical interface send appropriate electronic messages to the wheels. The CityCar Driving Simulator uses the CityCar's physical parameters to model the car's driving behavior, allowing users to drive a virtual CityCar with a variety of alternative controls.

While the steering wheel has been a ubiquitous and important driving interface, there is vast potential for alternative interfaces. With the driving simulator, we can prototype and test these interfaces with a virtual vehicle to develop design rules and principles that will shape next-generation driving interfaces.

The CityCar project is continuing the vision of William J. Mitchell (1944 – 2010), director of the Smart Cities Media Lab research group. More information on the CityCar project can be found on the Smart Cities web site.