Several decades of experience in the field of driving simulation.
Advanced driving simulators have become an indispensable tool, especially for the development and testing of driving assistance systems and display and control concepts. They allow the functionality and suitability for customer use of new systems to be tested in detail while still at a very early stage of development. The driving simulator serves as a link between the functional testing of individual hardware and software components on the one hand and road testing with complete systems on the other. The BMW Group has many years of experience in using such facilities. Back in the early 1990s, static driving simulators were employed in the development of BMW cars. In order to model what happens on the road in even greater detail, the BMW Group has also operated a dynamic driving simulator since 2006. In the face of rising demands on the capacity of these facilities, a further dynamic driving simulator was installed in the BMW Group Research and Technology House in Garching in 2016.
The systems to be tested are fitted in a vehicle mock-up attached to a platform inside the dome of the driving simulator. Mounted on an electromechanical hexapod system, the dome can be moved both longitudinally and transversely by an electric drive while also being turned. In order to give the drivers a realistic visual experience of the simulated driving situation, the dome housing the mock-up is equipped with a projection screen. Precise synchronisation of the projected driving images with the movements of the vehicle creates a highly realistic perception of the simulated driving situation, in which the visual impressions of what is happening on the road and the longitudinal, transverse and vertical acceleration forces acting on the test person merge to create an almost flawless overall dynamic impression. The virtual test drive scenario is completed by a sound simulation which is also matched precisely to the situation portrayed.
In this way, it is possible to create test conditions which until now could only be experienced with real vehicles on the road. When seeking to optimise innovative systems, laboratory testing also has the advantage that selected driving situations can be repeated as often as required. This significantly increases the validity of the results. Furthermore, the driving simulator makes it possible to act out test scenarios which occur only rarely or under unusual circumstances in real life, or which would involve risks and so could not be created for test purposes in a real-world driving environment. Conversely, findings obtained in the course of real-world road testing can be checked and validated in realistic laboratory simulation.
New Driving Simulation Centre enables more precise and efficient testing of complex systems.
The new Driving Simulation Centre is therefore ideally placed to meet the ever greater requirements arising from the growing complexity of systems for automated driving. In future, it will allow different driving situations to be reproduced in significantly greater numbers and in more detailed form. Individual aspects of a particular scenario can be varied and combined freely. This means, for example, that the configuration of a new driving assistance system can be tested under different conditions at an early stage in order to find the ideal balance between a dynamic and comfort-oriented profile before the first road test has taken place. New display and control systems can also be tested in a wide variety of situations in order to analyse the risk of the driver being distracted or the effect of visible, audible or haptic signals.
The city of Munich is without doubt one of the crowns of German society. As one of the primary commercial and cultural hubs of German life, Munich is seen by many as a truly major part of the countries success. However, such is the case with flight simulators, there is a distinct lack of quality in the realism and closeness in the city itself. This release by RealCity VFR looks to help add a touch of energy to Munich once again.
Complete with a fantastic view of autogen features to help add more life to the city from VFR flights around 2,600-3,400ft, this makes Munich look as imperious as it should. For those with high-end machines, this can offer you a huge amount of extra detail and realism to the city down below. It helps to make the whole area look much more alive in general, without being incompatible with other Munich scenery mods. It works perfectly in tandem with the likes of Aerosoft sceneries and ORBX FTX Europe.
By adding a freshness and an energy to the city, it brings a very Munich-specific level of architecture. Buildings and facilities all look far more like traditional Bavarian architecture, adding scope and detail where previously little existed.
A whole new take on the city is included, with new autogen vegetation all across the city. This makes even just the basic land look more Bavarian, ensuring that the whole area represents Munich accordingly.
This has plenty of new features such as small animated birds flying above the city center to various custom architecture. Indeed, it has many new churches and other custom buildings, with wonderful historical landmarks all added to the city in kind.
New apartment blocks and hotels are added, too, giving the city that draping, towering feeling that you feel on its streets. Even small changes such as the color of the roofs have been changed. New ground textures are added, too, making it look more natural and less dated and dried out. Overall, it just makes the whole city a touch sprightlier than it perhaps once did.
Color correction and placement of buildings has been adjusted to make the whole area feel more realistic. From the scale to the placement, this mod adds the finishing touches to one of the most important cities in Europe.
Don't forget... We have a huge selection (over 24,000 files) of free mods and add-ons for MSFS, FSX, P3D & X-Plane in the file library. Files include aircraft, scenery, and utilities All are free-to-download and use - you don't even need to register. Browse on down to the file library here.
Ian Stephens is a flight simulation industry expert with over 20 years of experience and also has a keen interest in aviation and technology. Ian spends a lot of his time experimenting with various simulator packages but has a love for Microsoft Flight Simulator X because of the huge selection of add-ons available. However, Ian also has copies of Prepar3D and X-Plane installed.
Building work in Munich began in 2018 and the new Driving Simulation Centre will be put into operation gradually. Here, the BMW Group is turning the most progressive concept in the automotive industry into reality. A total of 14 driving simulators make it possible to test the very latest BMW innovations and vehicle technology of the future. Covering an area of 11,400 m, the new facility provides the optimal simulation tool for each stage of development, making it possible to integrate the customer in development at a whole new level.
What will test drives look like in the future? At the new BMW Driving Simulation Centre, the use of VR glasses means it does not start in a conventional simulator. The Seamless Simulator Experience allows test persons to immerse themselves even deeper in the virtual driving situation. The outcome is more valid and reliable results.
The future of mobility is depicted particularly accurately in the High Fidelity Simulator. This weighs 83 metric tons in total and moves around in an area of roughly 400 m. It makes it possible to simulate inner-city traffic, which poses a particularly diverse range of challenges for automated driving systems, under laboratory conditions.
In this project, we analyze the impact of different city center restrictions, e.g., charging a fee for internal combustion engine vehicles driving in city centers on last-mile deliveries. In this context, we especially focus on the viability of electric commercial vehicles in short-haul logistics fleets. We use operations research methods to account for the behavior of logistics fleet managers in their daily operations. The experimental results for three real-world case studies (Paris, Vienna, New York City) show that the distance based fees are superior to per-entry based fees to realize ecological and economical goals. Once the designed restrictions enforce the usage of electric vehicles, their operation yields additional ecological benefits outside the city center.
Automated driving can fundamentally change road transportation and enhance quality of life by allowing non-driving related tasks. However, at present, the interaction of humans in automated vehicles is not clearly established. Besides technical and legal requirements, the human being with its physiological boundary conditions needs to be observed in detail. The following study describes fundamental approaches to predict the stimulus response of the human organism called Kinetosis (Motion Sickness) and decrease symptoms by changing the seating position in real test driving conditions. Among other effects, it can be shown that reclined postures lead to a significant improvement in the sense of comfort.
The Advanced Optimization in a Networked Economy (www.adone.gs.tum.de) group presented their research on advanced optimization for shared mobility. The overall research focuses on various aspects of operations research and optimization of shared mobility, with a specific focus on large-scale problems and data sets (and the required analytics), influence of multiple decision makers (competition), and uncertainty due to externalities (i.e., customer behavior). From an optimization or operations research standpoint, all shared mobility offers are somewhat similar. We, thus, consider carsharing, bikesharing, taxi systems and ridesharing. All operators of shared mobility solutions face similar challenges on strategic, tactical, and operational levels: On a strategic level, the research of Adone members focuses on fleet sizing and composition (number of vehicles and types of vehicles), definition of the operating area, and where to locate stations (rental or charging stations). On a tactical level, we consider demand prediction, design of pricing schemes and rebalancing techniques. The actual relocation of bikes or cars belongs to the operational level, along with decisions on actual price discounts, as well as matching customers and vehicles.
7fc3f7cf58