Ford 2003 Annual Report Download - page 29

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Safer Teen Drivers
Ford Motor Company and the Governors Highway
Safety Association are sponsoring a campaign to
make teens more competent drivers.
Real World Driver: Driving Skills for Life focuses
on four key driving skills that safety experts believe have
the most promise of preventing crashes. Through an
interactive online experience, a video designed for
classroom use, and a curriculum that includes hands-on
safe driving demonstrations, teens learn to recognize
and anticipate road hazards, handle different vehicles
competently, maintain safe spacing with other traffic,
and drive at speeds that are right for conditions.
For more information on the campaign, visit
www.realworlddriver.com.
From left: Real World Drivers Jeff Lemke, Lee Scott Jr.,
Beth Jenkins, Tony Bucko and Ashli Smith
Asleep at the Wheel
What’s the best way to study driver fatigue?
How about putting tired drivers behind the
wheel and having them drive a dark country
road until they fall asleep?
Sound dangerous? It isn’t with VIRTTEX
(VIRtual Test Track EXperiment). The only full-
motion-based driving simulator owned and
operated by a North American automaker,
VIRTTEX uses an actual vehicle — currently
a Volvo S80 — bolted to a computer-controlled,
hydraulically operated platform that pitches and
yaws to create extremely realistic feedback.
Exterior scenes play out on 360-degree video
screens, completing the illusion of driving.
For the driver-fatigue study, a high-resolution
camera on the vehicle’s console monitors eye
movement. The goal is to create technologies
that can prevent accidents when drivers are
falling asleep and veering out of their lane.
A previous VIRTTEX project, concluded in 2003, studied driver
distraction and showed that teens are more easily distracted
than mature drivers while dialing or answering a cell phone,
reading a pager or using similar devices.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT 27
VIRTTEX — an indoor,
crash-proof test track
At the wheel, inside VIRTTEX
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