Construction, Realization and Validation of a Low-Cost Driving-Simulator and a Renault ZOE Data Interface

The objective of this bachelor thesis is the adaptation of a low-budget driving simulator, to a recently developed driving simulator software BeamNG.research. This simulator is made as a close resemblance to the battery electric vehicle Renault ZOE. The thesis primarily focuses on all hardware aspects of the simulator. A market analysis compares already used and common solutions and hardware as base for the development of a concept.

Based on a requirement and feature analysis, a simulator with primarily computer gaming hardware is build and reconfigured from typical race car ergonomics to a more fitting compact car appeal. This requires the construction of several steel adaptor frames during the realization. A four-display setup is also realized, with three 55” UHD TVs (180 degree FOV) and a fourth 10” HD display as designated driver display. In parallel, a data interface for taping into the ZOEs CAN-Busses is selected. And a new concept, the CanSee of the CanZE community is recreated and adapted. The first iteration of the simulator setup as well as a prove of concept for the CanSee is evaluated and tested. Several improvements follow the evaluation concluding the realization.

Both, the simulator setup and the data interface, showed promising results. The simulator could be used effectively during more than 60 hours of use in survey and provided all desired data. The CanSee data interface proved to more than a tool for validifying the simulator, but also as base for future development of energy interfaces.