Ride to the future : development of a VR bicycle simulation to evaluate real-world infrastructure and traffic

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Baule, Lisa and Disser, Michael and Göbel, Stefan; Moreno-Rangel, Alejandro and Kumar, Bimal, eds. (2025) Ride to the future : development of a VR bicycle simulation to evaluate real-world infrastructure and traffic. In: EG-ICE 2025. University of Strathclyde Publishing, GBR, pp. 654-662. ISBN 9781914241826 (https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00093314)

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Abstract

The use of bicycles as an alternative mode of transportation is gaining importance as an increasing number of cities aspire to reduce the amount of car traffic, especially in their city centres. This results in decreased traffic jams, reduced emissions, and increased well-being, but also introduces new challenges for infrastructure planning and updating traffic regulations. To evaluate different traffic situations that occur in urban areas or newly planned infrastructure before construction from a cyclist's perspective, this paper presents a first-person VR bike simulator implemented in the Unity game engine. The user cycles through the virtual world by using a bike mounted on a home trainer while wearing a VR headset. The pedalling and steering of the bike are transferred as input to the simulation via a microcontroller. The environment was enlivened by different road users, including bicycles, cars, and motorbikes, controlled by a 2D traffic simulation. The simulator was tested in a study with 21 contestants. Their behaviour during the tests and the post-test questionnaire indicates that this kind of immersive simulation is a suitable tool for evaluating existing and newly planned infrastructure in urban areas.

  • Item type:Book Section
    ID code:93314
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 July 2025
    Published
    9 June 2025
    Accepted
    Subjects:Fine Arts > Architecture
    Department:Faculty of Engineering > Architecture
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:30 Jun 2025 13:48
    Last modified:08 Aug 2026 00:57
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/93314
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