From pencil to computer: the work of the car designers has radically changed in a few years but the leap that has allowed the intensive use of the Cave (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, a virtual reality system that allows you to move around and inside the vehicle during the design phase) was huge.
Vehicle design work now makes it possible for engineers to test, touch and experiment with future models long before the first physical prototypes were created. But how?
To answer the question, Groupe Renault has opened the secret doors of the Technical Center of Titu, in southern Romaniawhere the subsidiary Dacia has created a system devoted entirely to virtual full immersion in the cars of the future… which do not yet exist.
Cave is in fact a tool that allows the user to simulate reality in every detail, giving technicians the possibility to get into the car and check the perception of the driver and passengers in terms of safety, ergonomics and comfort of every detail. And all changes can be made in real time.
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We get to this with five walls on which stereoscopic videos are projected: it is born an immersive space that drops users into a reality that changes dimensions. Who virtually “enters” here he can go around the vehicle and climb into it as if it were real. And, then, by wearing the 3D glasses, the engineer can change the whole environment in a few clicks. Such precision and flexibility are made possible by six million pixels: ergonomics of the dashboard controls, visibility in the various corners of the vehicle, accessibility, comfort and even the design.
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Let’s talk briefly about a resolution level equivalent to that of the human eye which makes interactivity possible between the various users who enter, touch and use the vehicle, which is thus truly perceived as if it were real. And, even, to test the third row of seats of the new seven-seater Dacia Jogger family, a mixed group of thirteen people, ready to experience the virtual world. Tall and short people (with the analysis of anthropometric measures), women and men, of various professions. The conditions for selection are very precise for a perception as close to reality as possible. The path in the virtual world is also configured to test all sensations: passive driving (a video runs as if driving, but the pedals are not active), static tests (visibility, ergonomics, design), physical perceptions (comfort, safety) . In short, “field tests”, which lead to enormous savings.
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“This virtual reality system – he explained to us in fact Andras Kemeny, Head of Group Renault, immersive simulation and virtual reality – it allows to validate the characteristics of the vehicles at a very early stage of the project. By reducing the number of physical prototypes and decreasing the modifications introduced at a later time, we save over 2 million euros per year ”.
And this is just the beginning: this immersive virtual reality is currently very expensive and can only be realized in huge research centers, but soon – it is estimated within five years – many engineers will be able to interact in the same vehicle, collaboratively and simultaneously with Simplified Low Cost Cave Environments. The car of the future is fast approaching.