Steer Clear: The future of learning to drive in India
India is infamously considered to be one of the riskiest countries to drive in the world. As per the government data, almost 1.5 Lakh people lost their lives in road accidents in 2017, which implies that 17 people died each hour in road accidents and is a terrifying situation that is being neglected.
People have been taught how to drive in multiple ways keeping in mind different driving scenarios. Thus, they are unable to follow on road rules and regulations. To create better drivers (and reduce accidents being caused due to careless driving), there needs to be a systematic learning system.
This led us to create an immersive learning experience for first-timers to acquaint them with their vehicles and the traffic rules for safer driving.
The seed of the idea was planted when we realized that the reason people avoided driving lessons was due to their fear of incompetent driving in complex situations. We thus decided to design a system to overcome this driving anxiety along with the fear of accidents.
We recalled the Virtual Reality (VR) games and how they made the virtual world seem so real. We researched and observed that not only a lot of racers practice their skills on VR driving sets, but also medical practitioners, pilots, tank drivers use this VR technology to understand their work. The thought of applying the same technology in India was to teach the basics of driving in a more customized and universal manner.
This is an existing technology, already being used in European schools to address the same purpose. However, Indian scenarios, roads, rules, and regulations are drastically distinguished and hence the technology needs to be developed accordingly.
As per the research done, we decided to provide the users with the basics of driving a car; from inserting the key and turning on the ignition to different driving situations on varied terrains.
On visiting driving schools, we noticed that, even though the service provided a similar simulation, it failed to give a real impact of driving a car and, had an interface based on foreign countries. This meant that a VR headset was required to create a realistic driving experience. This demanded that we create a simulator that suited the requirements of an Indian driver. Therefore, we decided to customize, i.e., Indianise it.
As a result, we designed a basic interface that would have four levels, i.e., Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Driving Test.
- The beginner level would have the basics of driving a manual car (ignition, accelerator, brake, clutch, handbrake, gear shift, indicators, side mirrors, traffic rules, maintaining coordination among these parts, etc.) with a voice-over to guide you.
- As in the levels of a game the intermediate level would get harder with more obstacles. You will be experiencing real-life Indian driving conditions in rural or urban areas, under different weather conditions and different times of the day. The driver can try his hand on automatic/ manual/ hatchback/ sedan cars. The scenarios become more and more difficult to handle after certain intervals.
- The advanced level would include driving under extreme conditions faced in day-to-day life on jammed Indian roads, narrow lanes, highways and hilly terrains with high rains or fog. The driver can try his hand on automatic/ manual/ hatchback/ sedan/ SUV cars.
- The final lap would include an actual driving test simulation for acquiring a four-wheeler driving license. It would be conducted on the evaluation model used by Delhi RTO.
If the driver meets any kind of accident — minor or major, s/he will feel the shocks and after 5 seconds a pop-up will appear indicating the driver about his/her mistake, casualties occurred, damage caused to the car, cost of repairing, points deduced and tips on how to avoid such mishaps. If the accident is a major one, the airbags will open up so that the driver may understand the functioning of airbags. The simulator will reset to the same level making the driver restart his/her driving simulation. If more than three accidents happen, the fine will increase by two times.
If the driver breaks any of the rules, a buzzer will beep and a red dot will appear on the side of the screen so that it remains in the driver’s notice. It will also cause a deduction in points and ratings. It will also be notified in the driving summary at the end of the session. If a rule is broken on a frequent basis, the driver will have to face it again until he starts following it and s/he will be instructed by the voice-guide how to follow it.
The driver can choose the start and end destinations of his/her own choice within the country. They can navigate through it using the GPS. The conditions will be the same as at the intermediate level. This feature will be available after the successful completion of the driving tutorial at the intermediate level. This will be helpful for drivers who wish to learn driving on a particular route. The driver can also experience left-hand driving for driving on foreign lands; in which case the graphics, scenarios, environment, etc. will be set accordingly.
Sound and vibration play a pivotal role in providing a realistic experience to the driver. The feel of starting a car, accelerating, pressing on pedals, engine noise, applying brakes, driving different types of cars would be made possible through providing these simulations.
According to studies, VR Headset is advised to be worn maximum for 30 minutes to avoid any kind of health issues. After 30 minutes, a break of 15 minutes is instructed to rest the eyes. Hence, the maximum driving tutorial will be of 20 minutes. The driver can resume his learning experience after a short break of 10–15 minutes.
The purpose that the simulator serves, is to not only save time and fuel but also provide a safer environment that users can adapt to before sitting behind the wheel. This simulation experience would be the next step after going through theoretical sessions and preceded step before going on-road. This driving simulation can be used by driving schools and car showrooms also.
We observed that there is a need for a common platform for providing this experience, thus making us develop an interface for the same.
P.S.: This is not a game, but an immersive learning experience made fun for improved involvement.
A user experience student project by Bindi Anjaria, Shruti Jain, Vidita Shevade and Yash Jain.
