Toyota announced today that it has developed a world-class driving simulator for effectively analyzing the driving characteristics of average drivers to aid in the development and verification of traffic accident-reducing active safety technology. The driving simulator, located at TMC’s Higashifuji Technical Center in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, provides one of the world’s most-realistic simulated driving environments. The Toyota driving simulator is designed to offer a driving experience that is as real as possible, so that driving characteristics can be accurately gauged. Key to this virtual reality is the use of an actual vehicle placed on a platform housed inside a 7.1-meter-diameter dome, the ceiling of which serves as a giant 360-degree concave video screen.

As the driver operates the vehicle, a tilt device, vibration apparatus and other devices manipulate the dome—which has a world top-class longitudinal range of movement of 35 meters and lateral range of movement of 20 meters—under precision computer control. The result is a faithful simulation of the actual sensation of driving, including a sense of speed, acceleration and riding comfort through turns and other driving maneuvers. Sound effects make the experience even more real.