Make Complicated Driving Research Easy—the ‘Mind Over Motor Mapping’ Example
Published on May 4, 2021

To error is human—especially behind the wheel. According to government estimates and existing driving research, roughly 94% of all auto accidents result from driver error. Autonomous vehicles offer an important opportunity to reduce human error behind the wheel. But as we’ve seen over the last several years, the rise in autonomous driving systems has … Continued
Overcoming Limitations in Human Factors Research into Distracted Driving
Published on April 7, 2021

Human factors research is keenly interested in what’s happening in the brain of distracted drivers while texting or using GPS apps. Roughly 4,000 people are killed each year by distracted driving and another 390,000 injured. By some estimates, one-quarter of all U.S. car accidents are caused by someone texting and driving. Previous research has … Continued
Simulator Sickness: Design Implications of the Rest-Frame Hypothesis
Published on February 17, 2021

In a previous post, we discussed the three most widely recognized theories about simulation sickness (and their scenario design implications) in detail. In general, these older understandings of what causes simulation sickness tend to argue that we must remove or attenuate motion signals in our simulations to prevent discomfort. The “Rest-Frame Hypothesis” is a … Continued
The Three Traditional Theories of Simulator Sickness and their Implications for Scenario Design
Published on February 1, 2021

Simulator sickness can complicate simulation-based driving research and negatively affect the validity of that research. When participants are uncomfortable or nauseous, they will be distracted from tasks, preoccupied with their discomfort. They may (consciously or unconsciously) avoid tasks or perform poorly to avoid further irritation. Our Realtime Technologies lead engineer and general manager, Heather … Continued
Choosing a Driver Simulation Platform that Minimizes Simulation Sickness
Published on September 23, 2020

Driver simulation is a remarkably powerful research tool. It allows us to safely and affordably explore how people handle potentially deadly situations. We can create scenarios (e.g., poor visibility, impaired driving, malfunctioning ADAS systems) that would be logistically impossible (as well as unethical) to ask study participants to endure in real life. So it’s … Continued
Traffic Simulation Gives Insights for Highway Safety Wins
Published on June 8, 2020

A recent driving and traffic simulation study from the University of Minnesota suggests several cost-effective ways to address rural highway safety at the intersection The rural road safety crisis is invisible to many Americans. Only about 20 percent of the US population lives in rural areas, and only about one-third of all miles driven … Continued
Supporting Customers’ Efforts to Remain Productive and Save Jobs During COVID-19
Published on April 22, 2020

Ann Arbor, Michigan – April 14, 2020 – Arotech’s Training and Simulation Division’s (ATSD) Realtime Technologies (RTI) expands customer support allowing customers to remain engaged and productive during the COVID-19 pandemic. RTI’s managers and engineers, many working remotely themselves, architected a pathway for its customers to use the RTI software suite while access to … Continued
AROTECH TRAINING AND SIMULATION DIVISION ACQUIRES INTER-COASTAL ELECTRONICS
Published on February 10, 2020
Ann Arbor, Michigan – February 10, 2020 – Arotech Corporation’s Training and Simulation Division (ATSD) has acquired Inter-costal Electronics, Inc. (ICE), a privately-owned corporation headquartered in Mesa, AZ. For over 30 years, ICE has been a leading provider of live training and test instrumentation systems. ICE designs, manufactures, and supports complex instrumentation ecosystems supporting strategic … Continued
Human Factors Research and Vehicle Interface Design: A Best Practice
Published on November 22, 2019

Last year a U.S. auto manufacturer announced a startling leap forward in in-vehicle experience: Ordering Donuts via dashboard while driving As a user experience, it was not an immediate success. Probably the warmest review came from Daniel Howley, the technology editor at Yahoo! Finance: “[this] is a nice option, but it feels like a … Continued
Automotive Simulation Models for Human Factors Research and ADAS
Published on November 1, 2019

On a single day in mid-July major headlines painted seemingly mutually exclusive pictures of the state of autonomous vehicles. Tesla announced plans to launch “full self-driving” features on its existing fleet of 100,000+ vehicles. This would allow “automatic driving on city streets” within the year. That same day, long-established automakers (including Ford and VW) … Continued