UFTI Co-Hosts an Open House for UF’s Driving Simulator

The University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI) co- hosted an Open House on October 28, 2016 to showcase its recently upgraded full car driving simulator.  Faculty, students and staff from various colleges at UF were invited to attend.  Small groups of about five people at any one time were treated to a demonstration of the full-car simulator and some even volunteered to try it out.

Dr. Stephen Golant, a professor in the UF Department of Geography who researches the housing and long-term care problems of older Americans and is the author of Aging in the Right Place (Health Professions Press), volunteered to sit in the passenger’s seat of the driving simulator. He was impressed at the realistic driving sensations he experienced as a passenger.  He said “It’s an excellent use of technology to diagnose the challenges faced by elder drivers.”

The car-simulator will allow researchers to conduct a variety of transportation-related studies on autonomous and connected vehicles, driver behavior, drivers with medical conditions such as Parkinson’s, ADHD, traumatic brain injuries. The possibilities are endless.

Funding for the simulator’s upgrade was provided by the UF Office of Research, the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and the Environment, Dr. Elefteriadou, Dr. William Mann, professor and chair of the UF Department of Occupational Therapy and the College of Public Health and Health Professions.

Stephanie Diaz, an undergraduate student working on their thesis project with Dr. Sandra Winter, a research assistant professor in Occupational Therapy at UF, was also in attendance and jumped at the chance to take the full-car simulator for a test drive.

“As I was driving the simulator it felt a little disconcerting because you don’t feel the G-force when you are breaking or turning and that made me feel a little dizzy, but it felt very realistic,” said Diaz.  “But as I was driving straight, it felt very normal and natural and very similar to driving on a road.”

The driving simulator is located in the Smart House at Oak Hammock, which is a University of Florida affiliated retirement community in Gainesville, Fla.

For more information on using the UF Driving Simulator, contact:
Jason Rogers
Coordinator, Computer Applications
College of Public Health & Health Professions
352-273-6020
jhodge@PHHP.UFL.EDU