Euro Truck Simulator 2 is helping make real roads safer

Euro Truck Simulator 2 is one of the most popular driving games in the world, but it’s also helping researchers investigate how to monitor driver fatigue in the real world.

Developer SCS Software has revealed the incredible story of one of its community members, Mr Martinka, a researcher at the Technical University of Liberec in Czechia, who uses the sim as a tool to develop a special, fatigue-monitoring shirt.

Over six months, Mr. Martinka and his research team used t-shirts fitted with almost invisible sensors to monitor drivers simulating a full working day on ETS 2. But why use ETS 2 in the first place?

“ETS 2 was the simplest and the most practical solution because it mirrors real driving conditions,” explained Martinka. 

“The game allowed us to simulate fatigue safely. We needed a reliable platform to simulate long hours of driving, and the game provided exactly that,” he continued.

The t-shirt accurately detects when the wearer’s breathing patterns veer towards microsleep, achieving this more accurately than OEM-developed fatigue monitoring systems.

It is estimated that between 10% and 20% of all worldwide road crashes are caused by fatigue, with research showing driving while tired is as harmful as drunk driving, proving why Mr. Martinka’s research is so important.

“This year, we’ll spend an entire month at a Japanese university testing the t-shirt with simulators using ETS 2 again,” states Martinka, explaining how the technology will be refined further thanks to external collaborations.

Can you think of any other driving games that could be used for similarly useful goals? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: SCS Software