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| Volvo makes self-driving cars safe |
Engineers at Volvo Cars (Volvo) have developed autonomous driving simulations to improve vehicle safety and autonomous driving technology.
Volvo has a long history of innovation in vehicle safety, and the Swedish company's new driving simulator offers groundbreaking simulation of mixed reality.
The device is equipped with a driving wheelchair and steering wheel with haptic feedback and virtual reality glasses.
Volvo engineers said that it is difficult to distinguish driving simulations between reality and simulated, and that is the purpose of their design.
Volvo uses the latest gaming technology to bring the simulator to life. Volvo believes that gaming technology can help make cars safe and self-driving.
The technology behind the driving simulator uses Unity, a real-time 3D development platform, and Varjo's virtual and mixed reality technology.
The simulation involves driving a real car on a real road that combines high-definition real 3D graphics with augmented reality glasses and a full Teslasuit suite that provides haptic feedback from the virtual world while monitoring body reactions.
Using Volvo software and hardware, engineers can safely operate real cars and simulate fewer driving scenarios on real test tracks.
The system also enables engineers to better understand the interaction between driver and vehicle, thus developing new safety, driver assistance and autonomous driving functions.
Test pilots can use the planned active safety and driver assistance functions, oncoming autopilot interface, future car models and many other situations.
The system can also be used during a real test flight without unnecessary risk to anyone, or it can be used in a test lab with fully customizable and variable scenarios.
Volvo recently demonstrated a self-driving simulator, and engineers realized that testing was essential when designing vehicle safety systems.
Real-world test systems can be dangerous, time-consuming, and expensive. Hence, transferring the tests to the virtual world can save a lot of time and money.