Driving simulators continue to grow ever more sophisticated, transforming the development of cars and the things they are made from.

They have certainly moved on from the level of giving drivers and pilots a realistic training environment without the need to physically sit them in a Formula 1 car or airliner.

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HiL) enables engineers to run components like electronic control units through endless hours of testing by connecting them to a computer model of the system they would normally control. Driver-in-the-loop (DiL) does a similar thing, allowing a human driver with real human responses, reactions and inputs to test a virtual car, or any virtual part of a car, while avoiding the time and expense of doing it for real.

Bridgestone recently installed a new DiL DiM500 simulator made by a firm called VI-grade. The DiM500 will enable Bridgestone's engineers to assess the performance of virtual prototype tyres without the need to make or physically test them until late in the development cycle.

Using the simulator, they can combine high-fidelity simulations with subjective driver feedback and historical data. It can also incorporate AI technologies to do something AI is particularly good at: extracting relevant information from vast quantities of data.

The outcome is that Bridgestone can now make earlier and more accurate design decisions by evaluating a much larger range of tyre specifications more quickly and across a broader range of conditions. The new DiL simulator is expected to avoid having to make and destroy as many as 12,000 prototype tyres a year, significantly reducing the environmental impact.

There are other advantages too. All OEMs work with their chosen tyre makers during the development of a new car to design and fine-tune the OEM-fitment tyres for that model. With both the tyre and car makers using DiL simulation, tyre and vehicle can be developed in parallel from an earlier stage.

The DiM500 simulator is currently being used mainly for dry handling evaluation but that will evolve to encompass a wider range of driving conditions.

Bridgestone had already introduced its Virtual Tyre Development (VTD) technology, which has cut raw material consumption by 60% in the development phase of OEM tyres, and 25% for replacement tyres. Bridgestone says the introduction of VTD reduced the amount of physical vehicle testing by 80%.

The DiM500 is a step up from earlier models such as the DiM250 installed by Goodyear in 2021. The DiM500 cable- is rather than actuator-operated, which gives it a larger range of motion and enables it to be used for more applications.

One key advantage of this, which may be a plus for tyre development, is that it can expose the driver to steady-state acceleration for longer, recreating a manoeuvre like a lane change more realistically and giving the test driver a more immersive experience.