PRESENTERS: The Research Team at the Institute of Automotive Research
- Prof. Dr. Stefan Reindl, Director Institute for Automotive Research
- Jan Ole Thomas M. Sc., Research Associate
- Alexander Wottge M. A., Research Associate
Student drivers in Germany can now also be issued with an unrestricted driving license if they pass the practical driving test in a vehicle with automatic transmission, which entitles them to drive vehicles with a manual gearbox. The condition for this is additional practical training on a manual transmission vehicle with at least ten driving hours. Additionally, driving instructors must ensure the safe, responsible and environmentally conscious handling of manual transmission vehicles.
As a result of this significant change in the legal framework, vehicles with manual and automatic transmissions are being integrated into driver training, which makes it possible to increasingly include vehicles with automatic transmissions and therefore in particular electric vehicles in driver training. The changed legislation has far-reaching effects on the organization of practical driving training in individual driving schools. For example, it is necessary to have additional vehicles to carry out manual and automatic lessons. This represents an additional financial burden for driving school companies, which is also reflected in higher costs for learner drivers when using driving school services.
MOVING International Road Safety Association has already launched studies in recent years that deal with driving simulators. MOVING has recently commissioned a scientific evaluation on the suitability of driving simulators for teaching shifting skills in driver training. The Institute for Automotive Research (IfA) is research contractor for this study.
The results of the scientific evaluation show that the use of driving simulators can be an adequate alternative to practice lessons in driving school cars from both a qualitative and economic perspective. The performance of driving simulators was scientifically proven in a nationwide field test with 15 participating driving school companies and around 100 driving students as test subjects.
In the underlying experimental setup, the researchers compared the shifting and driving abilities of two study groups with different training histories. While the first group consisted exclusively of conventionally trained driving students, the second study group consisted of driving license candidates who had completed 50 percent of their training hours in a simulator and 50 percent in a manual car. To ensure a direct comparison, the test subjects in both groups completed a 20-minute test drive. This was carried out on a vehicle with a manual transmission in real traffic and assessed by an independent expert.
FURTHER DETAILS OF INTEREST FOR PARTICIPANTS:
- Time: 22 February 2024, 11:00 - 11:45 am pm CET
- Fee: This members-only event is free-of-charge
- Location: online
- Working language: English
- Registration: The deadline for registrations is 20 February 2024, 12:00 pm CET