It looks like simulator games are now realistic enough to be scientifically accurate.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is now being used for scientific studies and might actually make real-life roads safer. Here is why and how:
Video Games As A Safety Measure?
Driver's fatigue has been a significant problem among truck drivers for a long time. Doing nothing but driving and looking at the road for hours on end can lead to danger for both the truck drivers and other road users. But how does one study this issue without endangering anyone? Using the Euro Truck Simulator 2, apparently.
Michal Martinka, a researcher at Liberec Technical University's Faculty of Textiles in Czechia, has been using the simulator game by SCS Software to cause driver's fatigue in the study's participants without actually endangering them.
Matika was quoted on ETS2's blog:
ETS2 was the simplest and the most practical solution because it mirrors real driving conditions. The game allowed us to simulate fatigue safely. We needed a reliable platform to simulate long hours of driving, and the game provided exactly that. - Ing. Michal Martinka, Ph.D.
The study's subjects were provided with a driver's seat and a steering wheel which were, however, linked up to a screen with Euro Truck Simulator 2 instead of a real truck. Then, the participants "drove" for up to seven hours at a time.
We drove continuously, replicating fatigue-inducing conditions until we were genuinely exhausted and wanted to sleep. - Ing. Michal Martinka, Ph.D.
The Result Of The Study: A T-Shirt For Driving Safety
With the help of this setup, Matika and his team were able to develop a t-shirt with washable, almost invisible sensors that track the drivers' vital signs, such as their breathing patterns, to register when a driver enters microsleep. Reportedly, these t-shirt sensors work much more reliably than the sensors that are already built-in in various cars and trucks.
This experiment has also received international attention and Matika and his team are now working with a Japanese university, aiming to improve the technology even more and make roads safer across the world.
So now simulators might actually be helpful for real-life safety measures! Do you think that video games could also be helpful in other scientific fields and sectors of life? Tell us your opinion in the comments!
