The Effects of Yaw and Sway Motion Cues in Curve Driving Simulation

This paper investigates the importance of yaw and sway motion cues in curve driving simulation. While such motion cues are known to enhance simulation realism, their function in supporting realistic driver behavior in simulators is still largely unknown. A human-in-the-loop curve driving experiment was performed in the SIMONA Research Simulator at TU Delft, in which eight participants were asked to follow a winding road’s center-line, while being subject to wind disturbances. Four motion conditions were tested: 1) no motion, 2) yaw only, 3) sway only, and 4) both yaw and sway; each was tested with 5 m and 100 m road preview for correspondence with earlier work. Results show that visual road preview is essential for adequate road-following. Although the effects of yaw and sway cues are much smaller, sway motion feedback allows for improved disturbance-rejection performance, while yaw motion feedback results in reduced control activity. These distinctly different effects suggest that both motion cues are important for evoking realistic driving behavior in simulators.