Blue Light Virtual Driver Experience Keeps Citizens Safer

Biometric data delivers key insight that enables the LFB to assess driver performance levels.

The challenge

Responding to emergencies is fraught with danger for blue light services, making it essential for drivers to receive the best possible training. This not only reduces the risk to emergency personnel and the general public, but also improves response performance, keeping citizens safer. With this firmly in mind, the training partner for a UK fire brigade was keen to help the emergency service overcome problems that fire engine drivers were encountering at a specific road intersection.

To prepare drivers as well as possible for the challenges the road system presents, the possibility of developing a driving simulator was considered. The idea was to create a virtual experience for negotiating the junction in question and improve training. Mindera’s immersive training and analytics partner was approached for help, a business that we’ve been supporting with dedicated software development teams since 2021 to accelerate simulator innovation.

The solution

The result was a Blue Light Driver Training Simulator which enables fire brigade drivers to practise negotiating the complex road intersection without leaving the fire station, and so removing any risk.

This virtual experience was particularly challenging to develop as it required traffic simulation (roads, vehicles, traffic lights) to react to the driver, as well as the hardware integration of multiple devices. These included a motion platform, high-end VR headset, heartbeat sensor, steering wheel, foot pedal system, gear box and custom siren trigger. It was also essential for the simulator to collect biometric and behavioural driver data for detailed performance analysis.

The result

To date, the prototype version of this exciting digital design project has been successfully delivered and deployed. The driving simulator meets all elements required, delivering a highly immersive experience for fire brigade drivers. This includes exact replication of the complex junction and motion sensation to emulate speed, bumps in the road and turning.

The simulator is giving drivers invaluable experience so they can handle the intersection more effectively. Just as importantly, the biometric data it provides delivers key insight that enables driver performance levels to be assessed and make better informed decisions on how to approach the road system. All of which will help reduce risk and increase the effectiveness of emergency responses requiring the junction to be negotiated.

This project also showcases the versatility of Mindera’s immersive training partner’s simulation analytics platform for which we’ve been contributing software development expertise.