ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the Small World Simulation facility which was built in the course of the Generic Intelligent Driver Support (GIDS) project with a dual purpose in mind: to have a research tool to allow rapid prototyping and testing of various GIDS functions and components and to have a simulation facility with a complete GIDS system installed for behavioural studies that would be too laborious or too dangerous to perform in the real world. The Small World Simulation consists of driving in a dynamic traffic environment in the simulator at the Traffic Research Centre of the University of Groningen. The system is designed such that driving through the simulated world is as realistic as possible. Physically, the driving simulator consists of a car body and its driving controls, a large graphical projection screen showing the road environment, and some digital computers running the software for graphical projection and the simulation models.
