Effects of Yaw Motion on Driving Behaviour, Comfort and Realism

The use of large displacement yaw cueing is becoming more common as a part of the motion cueing in driving simulators. It is expected that driving behaviour, comfort and realism will be positively affected by adding a yaw table, especially during low-speed turning manoeuvres. We used TNO's advanced motion platform Desdemona to explore the effects of yaw motion during highway and urban turning manoeuvres: 14 participants drove the simulator with and without yaw motion. Questionnaires results showed that the simulation was rated as quite realistic. Effects of yaw motion on the subjective ratings were not found. In terms of driving behaviour, we found statistically significant effects of yaw motion in curve driving, especially in small-radius curves. With yaw motion present, driving behaviour became more cautious, and (compared against the literature) more realistic. This suggests that adding yaw motion to a driving simulator improves the external validity for low-speed corner driving manoeuvres.