Texas A&M Distracted Driving Simulator

Problem: Texas A&M's Passenger Safety Initiative is designed to show high school and college students how dangerous texting and driving is. They currently utilize a 360-degree video that shows the risks of distracted driving. While emotionally powerful, it lacked the hands-on experience, personalized metrics, and randomization that can be achieved in VR with a driving rig. In order to drive a higher impact, Abstract designed and created an interactive VR Driving simulator so users could experience firsthand the dangers of driving distracted.

Solution: Abstract developed a Virtual Reality solution in a gaming engine that utilizes a driving simulator rig and the Oculus Rift. In the scenario, the driver must pick up the cell phone and answer a series of text-message prompts with the hand held controller while driving. The driver must complete the actions without crashing into cars, curbs, or any randomized events included in the simulation. The user's head movements are tracked with sensors to tell when they are looking at their phone, versus when they are paying attention to the road.

After a successful first version, Texas A&M decided to continue development on a version two. The update includes a distracting passenger scenario, where an animated character is actively talking to the driver. The second version also includes a highway speeding and braking scenario, designed to illustrate the dangers of following too closely to a vehicle when moving at speed.