CIRP Driving Simulators

The Center for Injury Research and Prevention is uniquely poised to study driving behaviors and performance thanks to the driving simulators housed within the Roberts Center for Pediatric Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Our staff are available to provide technical and administrative support to help researchers conduct qualitative and quantitative simulator-based research. 

Fixed Base Driving Simulator

Key features of the fixed base driving simulator include:

  • A cab with driver seat, dash, and center console with three large monitors and integrated side- and rear-view mirrors
  • Semi-autonomous and autonomous driving simulation capabilities, including a hands-off detection steering wheel
  • Integrated head-mounted eye tracking capabilities
  • Specialized data analysis software to sync 4-quadrant videos and simulator data 
  • Customizable driving scenarios in addition to the large library of existing driving simulations
CIRP driving simulator

Mobile Driving Simulator

Key features of the mobile driving simulator include:

  • Multiple portable setups available, utilizing a laptop with standard gaming steering wheel and pedal set
  • Fully self-contained instructions, including a brief introductory drive
  • Screen-mounted eye tracking capabilities  
  • Driver performance feedback reports, including links for training materials
  • Existing large normative dataset of new drivers
  • Extremely low incidence of visually-induced motion sickness (“sim sickness”) A cab with driver seat, dash, and center console with three large monitors and integrated side- and rear-view mirrors

Used In Research

CIRP's driving simulators have been used in several Young Driver Safety research studies to help improve the assessment of driving skills and to better understand driving behaviors and emotions to improve performance. Through its library of drives, the driving simulators have the potential to help answer clinical research questions beyond traffic injury prevention, including cognition, injury recovery, attention, and more. In addition, the use of these driving simulators have the potential to educate and train young novice drivers.

Learn More

Contact Chelsea Ward McIntosh, MS, CCRP for more information about using the fixed-base driving simulator or mobile driving simulator in your research. 

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