Differences between vehicle lateral displacement on the road and in a fixed-base simulator.

This work investigates differences in lateral displacement when driving on curved and straight road sections in real-road and simulator conditions. We observed 100 licensed drivers on a rural road and 100 in a fixed-base simulator. Speed and lateral position on the real road were measured using videocameras. The analysis indicates that the mean vehicle lateral displacement is in general higher on the real road than in the simulator. However, these differences decrease for higher speeds at curved sections and for lower speeds at straight sections. It was also found that the standard deviation of the vehicle lateral displacement is significantly lower on the real road than the corresponding values in the simulator, at either curved or straight sections. Actual or potential applications of this research are related to a more realistic assessment of driving behavior scenarios derived on the basis of simulation experiment results.