The VR Driving Experience helps implement user experiences

Rijkswaterstaat and the Municipality of Amstelveen want to allow local residents to see and experience the plans for the A9 as completely as possible. This is why Witteveen+Bos created the VR Driving Simulator.

Visitors to the Amstelveen InZicht experience centre are able to step into the simulator and experience the future state of the A9 in virtual reality. The driving simulator has been part of the experience centre for more than a year now and has attracted many interested visitors. Users of the simulator indicate that it helps in imagining what the situation will be like in the future.

Implementing user experiences

An important objective in designing the A9 motorway was to implement user experiences. That is what the VR Driving Experience was designed for. The simulator allows the user to experience designed roads as a real motorist would. This is achieved using a VR headset and racing seat, including steering wheel and pedals. A Vissim model is also integrated, making interactive traffic possible which reacts to the user’s actions.

Professional design tool

The driving simulator began as an experiment to see how user experiences could be implemented in the design process. It resulted in a professional design tool that makes it possible to test and validate designs. Experiments are currently being done with various parameters, such as the length of exits. How users experience these different designs is being examined.

The placement of signs and the effects of heavy traffic, too, can be studied from a user’s perspective. Also, road designs can be presented to the client or any other stakeholder in a very accessible way.

Success factors

• High level of satisfaction and understanding among users: it is found to be an enjoyable and accessible experience of the future situation.
• An interactive experience based on an actual design is possible. As a result, everything the user sees is accurate - not an ‘artist’s impression.
• Greater satisfaction among the clients’ team.