A pilot evaluation of using large movement driving simulator experiments to study driver behaviour influence on active safety systems for commercial heavy vehicles

The evaluation of active safety functions like Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is of increasing importance, driven by legislation, to commercial heavy vehicle producers and to society as a whole to predict the potential benefits of the systems. Direct testing in real traffic with normal drivers of those functions are most often infeasible due to cost, repeatability and safety. This paper presents an attempt to explore the possibility of using large scale moving based driving simulators to evaluate functions like ESC. This is conducted through a simulator experiment where the subject drivers have been provoked in driving scenarios to ESC interventions. The experiment indicates the possibility of using driving simulators for evaluation purposes. This implies that studies of the benefits can be performed with higher accuracy regarding repeatability and evaluation testing of active safety functions can be made more cost efficient and without jeopardizing safety of involved driver and other road-users.