Lexus develops monstrous driving simulator

Just like guns, cars don’t kill people, but those behind the wheel do if they aren’t too careful with the awesome amount of power and responsibility held in their hands (and pressed by their foot). Lexus aims to make roads a much safer place for everyone, where their research campus in Higashifuji, Japan, will house the largest and most advanced driving simulator to date. In what looks like a giant mechanical jellyfish, it is actually a bunch of complex, interlocking full motion tracks that span the entire interior of a football field-sized room. Above the tracks lie a domed structure that is roughly 15 feet high and 56 feet in diameter, where a three-axis hexapod system will offer the relevant support. A Lexus vehicle will be mounted within, letting drivers test and experience actual controls in a safe environment. Throwing in a high-definition imaging system, drivers can experience a full 360-degree view of the virtual roads around the vehicle. When will 3D enter the equation, we wonder?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Transportation
Tags: simulator