Using Virtual Reality to Test Rider's Reactions
to Making a PRT Trip
Virtual reality techniques have been used recently in
Sweden to examine the reactions potential PRT riders have to
various features of the vehicle, stations and other parts of
the PRT system. This work has been done by
Elsa Rosenblad at the Department of Consumer Technology
at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was
presented at a recent conference on
PRT and Other Emerging Transportation Systems and a
videotape of the images generated by the virtual reality (VR)
system was shown also.
Some clips from this videotape are available. The
quality of the videotape's images are much better than the
digitized images from the videotape shown here.
The aim of this project was to study people's encounter
with PRT during a simulated trip in a real PRT vehicle to
explore people's feelings, attitudes and behavior when faced
with the new technology as well as to study the possibilities
of VR-technology in order to get closer to people's
experiences with reality.
Using VR-technology, a PRT guideway loop was modeled to
represent a well-known part of Gothenburg. Its surroundings
were made as lifelike as possible and a video recording was
made of a trip around the loop. The vehicle passes two
stations, after having picked up a passenger at the starting
point. Surrounding buildings, landscape and traffic were
modeled in a lifelike manner as was the sound reverberations
belonging to the respective images.
Thirteen subjects participated in the testing. They were
provided with some background information and then shown the
VR videotape. Semi-structured interviews were made and
recorded and spontaneous comments to important questions
captured. The questions dealt with personal security, safety
and comfort issues for the most part. Subjects were also
asked for opinions as to the level of visual intrusion on the
landscape of the city. The paper presents the results from
this testing in some detail and it is expected to be
published in a journal in the near future and therefore
cannot be posted here at this time.
More details about this project can be obtained from
Elsa Rosenblad . Her mailing address is Department of
Consumer Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412
96 Gothenburg, Sweden
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Last modified: January 8, 1997