Virtual reality (VR) cycling simulator

We have developed a high-fidelity VR cycling simulator that could simulate cycling in an immersive virtual environment. This simulator allows us to study driver-bicyclist interactions, cyclist behaviors and facility preferences, and among many other things in a safe, controlled, and replicable environment. The technical details on the simulator development can be found in Ayah Hamad’s Master’s thesis.

VR cycling simulator hardware

VR scene with a vehicle cutting in

Video demo

Walking in bicyclists’ shoe

• We have developed a number of virtual scenarios of common dangerous encounters (e.g., close passes, right hook).
• One can experience these encounters from a first-person, bicyclist’s perspective in our immersive VR simulator.
• These scenarios were also converted to 360-degree videos and shared on YouTube, so that people anywhere can experience them on their own devices (smartphones, tablets, computers).