Context
General Motors is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Building on a century of automotive expertise, GM is leveraging software, hardware, AI, and sensors to produce safer, smarter, and cleaner vehicles. The company is developing advanced driver assistance and autonomous vehicle technology to eliminate human driving error, save lives, and improve mobility for everyone. GM offers both a broad portfolio of EVs built on our proprietary battery platform and a diverse family of market-leading gas and diesel cars, trucks, and SUVs.
The company also has long lineage of driving simulators dating back to the 1960s. These simulators have been mainly used to study human factors in driving, focusing on the Human Machine Interface. The GM Research Driving Simulator, the fifth-generation human factors driving simulator, has been instrumental in testing Super Cruise and other projects. Built in 2009 and upgraded in 2012 to include a motion system, the simulator has undergone continuous enhancements.
For the most recent refurbishment, the GM team worked together with Electric Picture Display Systems, a Florida-based company, specializing in advanced display and projection systems, and serving various sectors including aerospace, military, education, and commercial industries.
Solution
Electric Picture Display Systems selected Barco F80 laser projectors for Barco’s proven track record of delivering reliable, high-performance solutions. Known for their durability and consistent image quality, Barco projectors offered the confidence needed for a mission-critical installation, ensuring long-term stability, minimal maintenance, and exceptional visual performance in GM’s advanced driving simulator.
The Barco F80-4K12s deliver brighter images, a wider color gamut, and higher resolution—enhancing the realism and immersion of the driving simulation. This visual clarity is crucial for accurately studying driver behavior and vehicle systems.
“The new Barco projectors are much brighter, have a superior color space, and provide a wider field of view,” says Richard Romano, a Staff Researcher in GM R&D. “The projectors have transformed our driving simulator, providing an excellent immersive experience that enhances our research and development capabilities.”
The Barco projectors create a 360-degree horizontal display, and the motion base turns up to 360° inside the simulator, providing an exceptional simulated driving experience. Additionally, with short-throw lenses and a compact design, the F80 projectors enable integration of larger vehicle cabs into the simulator. This expands the range of testing scenarios and ensures the system can evolve with future needs.
The projectors, combined with advanced calibration software by Scalable Displays, simplify setup and maintenance. This ease of control and calibration reduces downtime and streamlines simulator operations, allowing teams to focus more on research and development.
Results
The upgraded GM RDS simulator now delivers a truly immersive and lifelike driving experience, setting a new benchmark in simulation technology. The integration of Barco’s laser-based F80 projectors has enhanced visual fidelity, with brighter images, richer colors, and sharper resolution that bring every detail of the virtual environment to life. This heightened realism allows engineers and researchers to conduct more accurate and nuanced studies of driver behavior and vehicle systems. Thanks to the refurbishment, the GM simulator is more versatile for future research and development initiatives.
