Stuttgart, February 1996
If the cap fits, wear it: whilst some of the older visitors preferred to behold it from a respectful distance, it proved a big hit with the youngsters. The stereo vision data helmet developed by the researchers from the Daimler-Benz "Man and the vehicle" work group in Berlin takes its wearer into the cockpit of a car in which nothing is real except the illusion.Psychologist Dr. Wolfgang Gottlieb describes the objectives: "With the help of 'virtual reality', we intend to investigate people's objective and subjective perception of the interior of a vehicle." If a design engineer comes to the conclusion, for example, that the B-pillars of a vehicle should be set at a sharper angle for safety reasons, it is quite possible that the driver and passengers would feel "boxed in" and apprehensive. However, no-one knows this for certain.
Why not have test persons clamber into the numerous variants of metal and plastic and ask them to describe their impressions? Unfortunately, this would be a very cumbersome and expensive method, since the cars in question would first have to be constructed on a 1:1 scale - and even then, such tests would not produce findings of any value to the researchers in Berlin-Marienfelde: merely climbing into the next vehicle would be sufficient to erase most perceptions and impressions of the previous model. The method would be doomed to failure.
The virtual car, existent only in the eyes of the beholder, is just the solution: the test person retains impressions of it when he or she is seated in its "interior". The candidate sits on a (real) seat in front of a (real) steering-wheel positioned in front of a (real, albeit makeshift) dashboard. The helmet immerses the test person in a world in which different models are successively presented at the press of a button without him having to leave his seat.
This brave new automotive world is a mere illusion - but a perfect illusion nevertheless: the eyes of the beholder see the interior of a car and a road, and his ears hear all the sounds associated with sitting in a moving vehicle. The candidate even sees a faithful, precise electronic reproduction of his own hands on the steering wheel. He can turn his head every which way; the perspective is always right.
This apparatus not only provides a fascinating experience for the test persons; it gives the researchers the specific results they need. To obtain answers to as many questions as possible, Wolfgang Gottlieb has coded various colours and Mercedes models in his computer, all of which he can combine. At the press of a button, he can even modify the shape and angle of the A-pillars and increase or decrease the size of the vehicle's interior.
"This method is ideally suited to our investigations," declares Wolfgang Gottlieb. When asked their impressions of this make-believe world, 80 percent of visitors gave matching answers - whether they had been sitting in a real-life dark blue car or had donned the data helmet. They all felt comfortable and at ease in the pleasant atmosphere of their real or virtual interior; they also reacted the same way to modifications to the A or B-pillars. The Berlin psychologists thus have at their disposal a very effective tool in their quest for the absolutely safe and ideally pleasant car.
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© 1996 Daimler-Benz