Whatever Happened to the LADS? Design and Development of the New University of Leeds Driving Simulator

Abstract

This paper describes how driving simulators have been used at the University of Leeds to undertake research into driver behavior and transport safety since 1994. The old Leeds Advanced Driving Simulator (LADS) has now been decommissioned. This paper describes the design and construction phases of the new £1m University of Leeds Driving Simulator, which has been operational since October 2006. The paper highlights the design and development decisions made and presents technical descriptions for each of the main features of the simulator: (1) Jaguar S-type vehicle cab and instrumentation; (2) 2.5t payload, eight degree of freedom motion system with 5m of effective stroke; 4m spherical projection dome; (3) image generation system; and (4) real-time Linux PC network.