MRDrive: An Open Source Mixed Reality Driving Simulator for Automotive User Research
Authors: Patrick Ebel, Michał Patryk Miazga, Martin Lorenz, Timur Getselev, Pavlo Bazilinskyy, Celine Conzen
Organizations: ScaDS.AI, Leipzig University Leipzig, Germany · Leipzig University Leipzig, Germany · Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Designing and evaluating in-vehicle interfaces requires experimental platforms that combine ecological validity with experimental control. Driving simulators are widely used for this purpose. However, they face a fundamental trade-off: high-fidelity physical simulators are costly and difficult to adapt, while virtual reality simulators provide flexibility at the expense of physical interaction with the vehicle. In this work, we present MRDrive, an open mixed-reality driving simulator designed to support HCI research on in-vehicle interaction, attention, and explainability in manual and automated driving contexts. MRDrive enables drivers and passengers to interact with a real vehicle cabin while being fully immersed in a virtual driving environment. We demonstrate the capabilities of MRDrive through a small pilot study that illustrates how the simulator can be used to collect and analyze eye-tracking and touch interaction data in an automated driving scenario. MRDRive is available at: https://github.com/ciao-group/mrdrive
Figures & tables
Figure 1. MRDrive enables drivers and passengers of manual and automated vehicles to be immersed in a 360°virtual driving environment while the physical in-cabin environment is rendered via pass-through, allowing for natural interaction with the vehicle. TBD
Figure 2. Overview of the MRDrive system architecture. The figure illustrates the main software components of \nameand their interactions with the underlying hardware. It highlights the flow of communication between modules and how data and control signals are exchanged across the system.
Figure 3. MRDrive supports different levels of mock-up integration, ranging from a fully virtual cabin to a real vehicle. The image shows a time scale ranging from virtual (left) to real (right), indicating the level
Figure 4. This graph shows how the pupil diameter of the two study participants changed over the course of the experiment and when participants decided to request an explanation by interacting with the center stack touchscreen. TBD