Simulators are an essential tool for behavioural and interaction research on driving, due to the safety, cost, and experimental control issues of on-road driving experiments. The most advanced simulators use expensive 360 degree projections systems to ensure visual fidelity, full field of view, and immersion. However, similar visual fidelity can be achieved affordably using a virtual reality (VR) based visual interface. We present DReyeVR, an open-source VR based driving simulator platform designed with behavioural and interaction research priorities in mind. DReyeVR (read ``driver'') is based on Unreal Engine and the CARLA autonomous vehicle simulator and has features such as eye tracking, a functional driving heads-up display (HUD) and vehicle audio, custom definable routes and traffic scenarios, experimental logging, replay capabilities, and compatibility with ROS. We describe the hardware required to deploy this simulator for under $5000$ USD, much cheaper than commercially available simulators. Finally, we describe how DReyeVR may be leveraged to answer an interaction research question in an example scenario.
翻译:模拟器是驾驶行为和互动研究的基本工具,因为公路驾驶实验的安全、成本和实验性控制问题。最先进的模拟器使用昂贵的360度投影系统,以确保视觉真实性、全视场和沉浸。然而,类似的视觉真实性可以用虚拟现实(VR)的视觉界面来实现。我们介绍DreyeVR,一个基于开放源的VR驱动模拟器平台,其设计是行为和互动研究重点。DreyeVR(阅读“驱动器”)基于非真实引擎和CARLA自动车辆模拟器,其特征如眼睛跟踪、功能驱动预览显示(HUD)和车辆音频、自定义的可定义路径和交通情景、实验性记录、回放能力以及与ROS的兼容性。我们描述了部署该模拟器所需的硬件,其价值低于5000美元,比商业模拟器便宜得多。最后,我们描述了DreyeVR如何利用DreyVR在示例中回答互动研究问题。