MRDrive: An Open Source Mixed Reality Driving Simulator for Automotive User Research

TL;DR

MRDrive is an open-source mixed reality driving simulator that combines physical vehicle interaction with virtual environments, enabling more realistic and flexible automotive user research.

Contribution

It introduces MRDrive, a novel mixed reality platform that bridges the gap between physical simulators and virtual reality for in-vehicle interface studies.

Findings

Demonstrated the simulator's ability to collect eye-tracking data.

Showcased touch interaction analysis in automated driving scenarios.

Validated the platform's potential for HCI research in automotive contexts.

Abstract

Designing and evaluating in-vehicle interfaces requires experimental platforms that combine ecological validity with experimental control. Driving simulators are widely used for this purpose. However, they face a fundamental trade-off: high-fidelity physical simulators are costly and difficult to adapt, while virtual reality simulators provide flexibility at the expense of physical interaction with the vehicle. In this work, we present MRDrive, an open mixed-reality driving simulator designed to support HCI research on in-vehicle interaction, attention, and explainability in manual and automated driving contexts. MRDrive enables drivers and passengers to interact with a real vehicle cabin while being fully immersed in a virtual driving environment. We demonstrate the capabilities of MRDrive through a small pilot study that illustrates how the simulator can be used to collect and analyze eye-tracking and touch interaction data in an automated driving scenario. MRDRive is available at: https://github.com/ciao-group/mrdrive