Driving Better with a Keyboard & Mouse
Driver Training Young drivers are among the most dangerous people on the road. One reason for that, a group of mechanical and industrial engineers at Northeastern University suspects, is their inability to recognize the myriad obstacles on modern roadways. The Virtual Environment Laboratory, directed by Ron Mourant, has developed a computer game that will help new drivers learn how to respond to hazards and road conditions.
The Lab developed a low-cost, fixed-base driving simulator, using virtual environments technology. The simulator runs on a 400 MHz Pentium Pro platform. The simulator software uses theRenderWare toolkit for Windows NT from Criterion Software. The user sits in an automobile seat, and controls the simulator with an automobile steering wheel and gas and brake pedals. The user views the vehicle interior and road environment using a head-mounted display with a rear-view mirror capability. There is also a real-time plan networking capability to the simulator. This allows two user-controlled simulated vehicles to share a common virtual road environment.
Read an article by the Boston Globe here and visit the Virtual Environment Labratorys' website here.