The inside of the TRIP lab simulator. Even the rear-view mirror displays a simulated image to immerse the driver. Photo by Ian KeelSarah Faulkner - Editor-in-Chiefeditor@insideuab.com
UAB has opened the first-ever SUV driving simulator laboratory in the world and the first full-cab driving simulator in Alabama as of this April through a partnership with Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, making national news and appearing on the “Today” show.
The laboratory, which is housed in the former SouthTrust bank building on 19th Street South, contains a full-bodied 2016 Honda Pilot with a fully functional steering wheel, gear selector, turn signals, dashboard and brake and throttle pedal. The simulator, designed by Realtime Technologies, Inc., is “placed on a motion base system allowing the vehicle to be at normal ride height for ingress and egress while providing the driver with pitch cues for acceleration and braking. The simulator provides sensitive haptic feedback to the driver for a realistic driving experience,” according to the UAB’s Translational Research for Injury Prevention lab’s website.
The simulated driving experience is displayed on three LCD projection screens in front of the car in order to present an 180 degree view of the scenery and speakers are installed to provide authentic passerby sounds. Additionally, a screen is placed behind the vehicle and LCD displays installed in the side mirror housings in order to enhance the sense of realistic driving.
In order to minimize simulator sickness, the simulator has implemented a stand-alone air conditioning system. This cools the cabin air significantly and creates moving air to reduce feelings of nausea. In addition, drivers take a brief “calibration” test drive in order to become acquainted with the simulator.
Spearheaded by Despina Stavrinos, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and the director of TRIP lab, the simulator aims to aid in better understanding distracted driving to better prevent motor vehicle injuries and to save lives resulting from traffic crashes.
“I strongly believe our work in motor vehicle injury prevention at UAB will have enormous life-saving potential,” Stavrinos said. “It will help alleviate a major public health and highway traffic safety problem. [...] The results of the driving research undertaken here at UAB will provide policymakers and industry leaders with sound, immediate, and actionable data that will lead to significant changes in personal responsibility and social norms–changes that will save lives and reduce injury.”
Stavrinos is joined by both UAB faculty as well as undergraduate and graduate students in the TRIP lab and in other studies related to distracted driving conducted at UAB. In the future, she hopes that the lab will partner with both community and industry leaders around the state.
“I can envision a near future where we have developed standardized simulator driving assessments for teen drivers so that we can train them and hopefully accelerate their learning,” Stavrinos said. “Similar methods could be used to assess fitness to drive among patients with a variety of health conditions including traumatic brain injury or chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
The first study utilizing the simulator will focus on teens between the ages of 16 and 19 and adults over 65.
“This study will examine the impact of roadway and driver factors on rural road crashes–which are a big problem for our state in particular,” Stavrinos said.
In addition, students interested in the TRIP lab are encouraged to get involved and participate in the research.
“We are always looking for bright, motivated, creative, proactive, and energetic young scholars to join our team! I have mentored nearly 100 high school, undergraduate and graduate students since the establishment of the TRIP Lab,” Stavrinos said. “TRIPsters participate in a variety of tasks in the lab. Students assist with the development of protocols, recruitment of research participants, run participants through experimental protocols, process and enter data into statistical software and disseminate research findings through presentations at scientific conferences. Students who commit over one year may also consider publishing their work under our mentorship.”
Studies will be conducted in part by utilizing cameras installed behind the steering wheel that track the participant’s eyes as common driving challenges are introduced within the simulator such as pedestrians, cyclists and lane-changing cars. After driving without distractors, drivers are asked to have a phone conversation with a researcher that is then compounded with an additional text conversation with the same researcher. The cameras, accompanied a computer keeps track of any unsafe driving behavior, allow researchers to watch the effects of escalating amounts of distractors.
Stavrinos’s interest in studying transportation began during her doctoral training in developmental psychology at UAB. While serving as a graduate research assistant, she was able to take on leadership positions in studies concentrating on cell phone distractions and its effects on early adolescents and adults. In addition, she designed her own study focusing on the safety of child pedestrians with developmental disabilities, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. This study was the first time that Stavrinos was made acquainted with virtual simulation for the purpose of bolstering injury prevention efforts, as the study utilized virtual reality to investigate pedestrian behaviors.
“I quickly realized how important simulation could be for understanding and preventing transportation-related injuries,” Stavrinos said. “Simulated environments give the user a sense of being fully immersed in an actual real-world scenario. A virtual experience provides key learning opportunities for both researchers and participants in a controlled, safe setting through realistic virtual images, high quality sound and the feeling of being surrounded by the virtual world rather than just viewing it on the screen; it provides users the ability to truly interact and immerse themselves in the virtual world.”
After establishing the TRIP lab, she found that there was “an important need for a high fidelity driving simulator to complement the work we were already doing in the area of motor vehicle injury prevention – which included work in distracted driving, drivers with developmental disabilities, teen drivers and older drivers.”
“Fortunately, we found the right stakeholders who had significant interests in the safety of Alabamians–the Alabama Department of Transportation and Honda Manufacturing of Alabama,” Stavrinos said. “Without these partners, this state-of-the-art driving simulator laboratory would not have been possible. Now, our lab is equipped with the expertise, capacity and enthusiastic commitment to discover and use research findings that will be used to develop and implement proven interventions that will save lives and reduce injuries, in support of U.S. Department of Transportation’s public safety initiatives. Together, we will make a lasting impact on traffic safety in Alabama.”
Anyone is interested in participating in this study is encouraged to call the TRIP lab at 205-975-9440 or visit their website at www.triplaboratory.com.
