Toyota unveils driving simulator
Updated on 26 November 2007
Toyota has launched a new driving simulator which tests safety features by recreating real road scenarios.
The giant 15ft high and 23ft wide dome swivels, tips and swishes on a rail and a Lexus inside it provides the sense of acceleration, vibration and sound of driving.
Inside, 360 degree computer graphics of roads and landscape - complete with signs, pedestrians, stores and faraway Japanese Mount Fuji - are synchronised to move with the simulated driving.
The 78-ton simulator, which is the first non-stationery machine of its kind, will be used to test safety features, such as beeps warning of oncoming vehicles, without endangering drivers.
Engineers will also use the machine to analyse how drowsiness and intoxication affect driving.
Toyota's executive vice president Kazuo Okamoto said the simulator will help the company understand the human brain to make cars safer.
Engineer Takashi Yonekawa said the simulator's purpose was to help tailor-make safety features, including for the elderly and beginners.
But Koji Endo, a car analyst with Credit Suisse in Tokyo, who took part in the demonstration, said the company would not see any return on their development "maybe for 10 years".
Toyota declined to say how much production of the simulator cost but said that three car manufacturers were planning to collaborate on road safety developments from next year.
The company also showed wireless safety features, such as beeps that warn vehicles of a red light ahead and the image of a traffic light that pops up near the speedometer. The system works by using infrared beacons on roadside poles.
These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.
