We are proud and delighted to look back on 25 years of WIVW's history, which was celebrated on September 12th, 2024 with our customers, partners, other supporters and the team. In the early afternoon, insights into the past and, above all, the future of WIVW's fields of activity were provided in the packed conference room of WIVW’s new building section. Veitshöchheim's 1st Mayor Jürgen Götz, as well as Dr. Lukas Kagerbauer (Deputy Managing Director of the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry), praised the WIVW's achievements in bringing globally active manufacturers and suppliers of the automotive industry to Veitshöchheim for research and development. Afterwards, there was a guided tour through the institute to experience the diversity of research first hand, from pedestrians and cyclists to motorcyclists, car drivers and truck drivers on the respective simulators. After the subsequent individual test drives, the event moved on to a champagne reception and buffet, where the evening came to a close with good conversations and live music. We look forward to the next 25 years of innovative research and driving simulation at WIVW!

What do the companies in the Wuerzburg area deal with and what are their needs? District Administrator Thomas Eberth asked himself these questions during a company visit to WIVW together with Jürgen Götz, Mayor of Veitshöchheim, representatives of the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce and other employees of the Würzburg District Office.
Managing Director Alexandra Neukum reported on the history of the company and its diverse and international group of users. She also emphasised the interest in cooperating with local institutions such as the different training centers for emergency drivers in the region and the desire to utilise the knowledge and expertise of the WIVW for regional relevant topics such as infrastructure design.
Afterwards, the participants were able to test drive the different high-quality SILAB driving simulators at the WIVW. Car, motorbike, bicycle and truck simulators were demonstrated by the employees and classified in terms of their possible fields of application.

What are the challenges, and more importantly, the solutions when designing a motorcycle riding simulator for human-in-the-loop testing? It was a great pleasure for WIVW to participate in the ZERO PROTOTYPES Summit to share WIVW’s experience from the last decade and to discuss it with experts from around the world.

The latest version of our simulation software SILAB 7.2 contains many new features that further optimise usability and fields of application in research and development:

Last Saturday we presented our institute WIVW as well as the European project Hi-Drive at the Landesverkehrssicherheitstag (Traffic safety day of Bavaria). We were present with an exhibition stand and as part of the stage programme with a short interview about automated driving and the
Hi-Drive project.

After three and a half years, the project RUMBA is coming to a close soon. It’s time for our partners and us to present the extensive results of our research and development on future interior concepts and new driving experiences for upcoming vehicle automation.Join us for the final event on 24th of April 2024 at the Bosch research campus in Renningen and experience interactive presentations as well as live demos on the test track and in VR!WIVW will present new insights into the mitigation of motion sickness and the fascinating implications of sleeping during automated driving.

At the end of February, the SESPIN project had its final presentation, followed by an expert workshop. The final recommendations for the safe and efficient integration of S-pedelec riders were discussed with experts from all D-A-CH countries.The contribution of WIVW to the project was the structured behavioural observation of S-pedelec riders in the bicycle simulator. Thus, the bicycle simulator was adapted to S-pedelec-specific aspects. Furthermore, different cycling facilities as well as conflict situations with other road users were implemented. Riding behaviour was evaluated on the basis of average speeds, passing distances and other safety-relevant parameters.

Join us online for the final event of the project INITIATIVE with interesting results on the interaction between automated vehicles and other road users!The final event of INITIATIVE (INtellIgenTe Mensch-Technik KommunIkATIon im gemischten Verkehr) will take place on the 13th of March 2024 in Lippstadt. As a project partner, the WIVW will present the project results of the last three years of research and development.The overall goal of the INITIATIVE project was to realize AI-supported intelligent interaction between highly automated vehicles and other road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. Interaction in this context means the situation-based detection of behavior patterns, the recognition of intentions and, based on this, decision-making and coordinated communication between the road users involved.The project team consists of FORVIA HELLA, WIVW, Fraunhofer IOSB, KIT (LTI & IRS), Universität des Saarlandes (Institute of Legal Informatics), ELECTRIC-SPECIAL, and version1. The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.The introduction to the project and the presentation of the sub-projects can be followed online in the morning. The live demonstration and the other stations of the project partners will take place in person in the afternoon.

Taking a nap during an automated ride - sounds like a future dream and promises drivers relief from feeling sleepy. However, benefits of sleeping may be opposed by sleep inertia - the post-sleep grogginess. Beneficial and detrimental effects of sleeping behind the steering wheel may depend on several factors. As part of the project #RUMBA, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, WIVW investigated the role of the time of day and individual predispositions like the chronotype on driving under sleep inertia.

At the beginning of February 2024 an expert workshop was held at WIVW GmbH on behalf of the “Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen” (Federal Highway Research Institute, BASt). The aim was to discuss the minimum requirements to be met by future tele operators. Three working groups discussed the topics of previous experience and suitability, different stages of training, as well as inspection and monitoring.Background: In teledriving, information on the vehicle's condition and surroundings, e.g., sensor data and video streams, is transmitted from the vehicle to a remote-control center. There, the data is made available to a person who controls the vehicle remotely.