Virtual reality rollovers
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Commercial Motor has become the first European truck magazine to deliberately turn over a 35-tonne artic—and live to tell the tale...
EXCLUSIVE by Brian Weatherley • The trouble with driver training is that you can only make it so realistic. Nobody's going to turn over a £60000 artic on a public road just to show a driver what happens when you overcook it on a tight bend. But at the Protectum Institute near Stockholm in Sweden they overturn trucks everyday without ever leaving a mark on the truck or the driver.
The secret is a virtual realitystyle truck driving simulator which can provide the kind of severe road and accident conditions that would leave most HGV driving instructors cowering in terror.
Risk exposure
Protect= is the research and development and risk management division of Trygg Hansa, the second largest insurance company in Sweden with a 60% share of the Swedish road transport market. It is this level of risk exposure that inspired the company to commission the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute in Linkoping to build Sweden's only truck simulator two years ago.
According to Protectum's Jonas Lattman: The prime object of the simulator is not just about developing techniques. It's about about road safety and awareness; creating a feeling like brake failure and rollover which you can do under safe conditions."
Swedish hauliers can send their drivers on a one-day simulator course backed up by classroom sessions. There's also time for tuition on safe lifting, load security, correct diet and exercise. A one-day course costs around .£150; last year 300 drivers risked life and limb in the simulator, helped by a special industry training grant.
.Lattman says that simulator students come from all fleet sizes: he points out that this training could enable operators to negotiate cheaper premiums.
At the heart of the 4.5-tonne simulator is a genuine Scania T112 bonneted truck cab. Push the throttle down and the rev counter starts to wind up while an eightchannel sound system provides realistic engine noises. Start changing up the gearbox gear as normal and the truck travels down a "road" created by three projectors on the cab roof. What the driver sees is a computer generated diorama on a 54m-wide, 120° wrapround screen in front of the bonnet, Turn the wheel and the truck changes its position on the road, allowing the driver to negotiate bends. Let the truck drift too far to the right and a simulated rumble strip tells you that you're on the edge of the highway.
Release the throttle, or brake, and you feel the truck slowing down; under heavy braking the cab tilts forward as if load were being transferred to the front axle.
The sensation of motion is created by a system of fast-acting hydraulic rams (four underneath the cab and two at the back) which provide rolling and pitching movements. The simulator module also moves from side to side on a track to give lateral movements.
The whole shooting match is controlled by a technician who can dial in various road conditions and is in constant contact with the driver via a loud speaker. After a two-minute practice session which gets the drivers used to the motion of the module, training starts in earnest with two nine-minute "driving" periods.
Protectum prefers not to say how much its truck simulator costs but an equivalent aircraft simulator costs well over Ilm and the Protectum truck version certainly doesn't lack sophistication. No doubt the potential reduction in insurance claims arising from simulator trained drivers was a strong incentive to develop it in the first place.
Behind the wheel
CM was able to take an exclusive "crash" course in the Protectum simulator last week driving a phantom 35-tonne artic. Our first impression of the simulator is that it is very realistic. Pulling away from rest our truck accelerated slowly at first, like a fully laden wagon, then it quickly
gathered speed as we changed up through the box.
Trundling along the twisting road various hazards started to appear. At each one simulator controller Anders Jerand gave us advice, and visual clues, as to the severity of the obstacles.
The straight, sunlit tarmac was suddenly transformed into a winding, snow-rutted road. "Try and keep your speed up around the bend," advised Jerand. Against our better judgement we did. Suddenly the whole cab started a sickening slide sideways as we struggled to straighten out the tractor and trailer from a jack-knife. "You've just hit ice," remarked Jerand casually.
Next, courtesy of Jerand, we ran into a bank of dense fog. "The side marker posts are situated every 50m..." we could barely see the second one. With a quick click of the computer keyboard the fog miraculously lifted and there was a vehicle parked in front of us. "Pull up and stop behind it," instructed Jerand. We pushed down on the brake pedal—harder...hard er...but it didn't stop us running right into the back of the vehicle with an earsplitting crash and a nasty forward jerk. What went wrong? "Brake fade," said ;.. Jerand. All the clues were there; so was the message.
Sensing we weren't slowing down enough we should have steered around the obstacle. The hazards began to come thick and fast. Rounding a cor net we faced two trucks racing side by side towards us. Our course of action was to brake, then steer off the road to avoid them. Unfortunately touching the brakes only made things worse. Our artic slewed to the left at an odd angle, straddling the road,. We could only watch in horror as the two trucks bore down upon us. Once again a sickening cash as we were hit amidships by a double whammy. "Your right hand side trailer brakes locked up when you braked..."
With limited time we decided to go for a full rollover—something no sane driver is going to do by choice. In fact it proved easier said than done. Even with a tight bend punched into the virtual reality road it was hard to deliberately try and oversteer.
Critical point
Rollover on the simulator occurs when 100% of the vehicle mass on the outside wheels is exceeded. As we approached the critical point the cab started to lean ever more alarmingly while Jerand's reverse countdown echoed round our ears:" 75'...80°...90°..." suddenly, with an awful slide and sideways jerking motion, we crashed over.
It wasn't a pleasant experience. The shaking delivered by the simulator was enough to loosen some pretty firm fillings and the accommpanying cacophony only served to heighten the shock of it all. We got out of the simulator with more than a touch of motion sickness."That's normal." says Lattman. "A lot of people get it and you wouldn't have gone for a rollover right away like that." Given the choice between being sick on a simulator or pulverised in a real rollover we'll put up with the nausea..
Can truck simulators really teach drivers to deal with emergencies on the road? Judging by CM's experience with Protectum's Truck Simulator the answer is a resounding yes. This is an area of technology which the UK industry would do well to consider.