Two proposals available in the context of the ADSafeVANET project. The first “Development of In-Vehicle Multimodal User Interfaces for VR-based Connected Vehicle Scenarios” is appropriate for both Design and Multimedia, and Informatics Engineering students. The second “Development of a Virtual Reality Driving Simulator for Evaluating In-Vehicle Interfaces in Connected Vehicle Scenarios” is more appropriate for Informatics Engineering students.
Development of In-Vehicle Multimodal User Interfaces for VR-based Connected Vehicle Scenarios
The adoption of intelligent and connected vehicles (ICVs) is reshaping transportation systems, with Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication enabling new forms of situational awareness. One of the main challenges in this area is designing Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) that effectively inform the driver about critical events—such as overtaking situations or pedestrian crossings—without introducing cognitive overload or distraction.
In another phase of this project, we have already designed UI prototypes (Figma) for the central column tablet of a modern car. In this dissertation, we want to implement those interfaces in a game-engine environment (e.g. Unity) and make them respond to external events and user interactions.
Students will gain expertise in: Unity/VR engine development, VR programming, real-time rendering, event-driven architectures, Vehicular networks
Students will integrate a team working on a project related to augmented safer driving through vehicular networks.
Objectives
The result of this work should be a UI module that can be integrated into a more complete driving simulator.
This dissertation should also implement a minimal UI testing framework in VR:
- A road scenario that a user can view from different viewpoints (vehicle, sidewalk, drone, etc.)
- A vehicle with the UI module in the central column
- A UI module that reacts to injected (through MQTT) external events about other entities in the simulated scenario (vehicles, users, messages to the vehicle)
Specific objectives include:
- Investigate solutions for implementation of Android-like UIs in game-engines (such as Unity). The UI must feature at least a Tesla-like 3D view, plus a map view. It should also include video views from simulated streams from other vehicles/equipament. Ideally the UI should respond to other standard interactions and features (like accessing media control screens, etc.) to make it more realistic.
- Investigate solutions for inclusion of real maps / 3D objects for the driving scenario (e.g., Cesium) where entities will be located. E.g., if the external events relate to vehicles or people in the Polo 2 area, the VR scenario should feature a representation of Polo 2 (even if low fidelity).
- Implement a re-usable, extensible UI module that can be easilyt plugged into other applications (using the same game-engine)
- Evaluate the resulting system from a performance and user pespectives.
Development of a Virtual Reality Driving Simulator for Evaluating In-Vehicle Interfaces in Connected Vehicle Scenarios
The adoption of intelligent and connected vehicles (ICVs) is reshaping transportation systems, with Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication enabling new forms of situational awareness.
To properly test and evaluate Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) under safe yet realistic conditions, virtual environments are increasingly used. Virtual Reality (VR) driving simulators offer a powerful platform for creating immersive and repeatable driving scenarios that include complex interactions, such as other vehicles transmitting sensor data or infrastructure alerts. However, general-purpose driving simulators often lack the flexibility to simulate the types of V2V, V2I, or V2X communication envisioned in real-world vehicular networks.
This thesis focuses on adapting a VR driving simulator to support the simulation of connected vehicle scenarios.
Objectives
The primary goal of this thesis is to design and implement a flexible, extensible VR-based driving simulator tailored for evaluating in-vehicle HMIs in connected vehicle environments.
Specific objectives include:
– Investigate existing VR driving simulators (e.g., OpenRoutTS3D, Coupled-Sim, AutoWSD), focusing on adaptability and support for V2X simulation.
– Translate the two safety-critical ADSafeVANET use cases—overtaking and pedestrian crossings—into simulation requirements including environmental conditions, vehicle behavior, and communication triggers.
– Develop driving scenarios with controllable vehicle traffic, weather/visibility conditions, and pedestrian behavior. The environment must support a VR headset and input/output integration for interface testing.
– Implement data logging (e.g., events, reactions, timings) to support usability and UX evaluation during user studies.
– Conduct a small-scale pilot test to evaluate the realism, responsiveness, and usability of the simulator for both participants and researchers.