Real-Time Computer Animation of Bicyclists and Pedestrians in a Driving Simulator

The Traffic Research Centre (TRC) of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands has developed a driving simulator with ‘intelligent’ computer-controlled traffic, consisting at the moment only of saloon cars. The range of possible applications would be greatly enhanced if other traffic participants could be simulated too. This paper presents a study of the possibilities of simulating bicyclists and pedestrians in general, and in the TRC driving simulator in particular. The new traffic participants must be controlled interactively, and move and behave in a natural way. A prototype system has been designed and implemented. The system simulates a bicyclist that is controlled by the user through a graphical interface. Integration of the prototype system in the TRC driving simulator is the subject of future research.