Today, truck driver simulators provide realistic training scenarios, helping CDL trainees improve on the necessary road skills they will need while on the road and making them feel as if they are responding to real driving events.
According to Pierro Hirsch, director of road safety research at Virage Simulation Inc., in a recent presentation, “simulation is a proven solution as an effective training tool. With simulators, we have an untapped source of a new method for improving driver training and testing.”
Hirsch added that dozens of studies have demonstrated that drivers’ performance on simulators closely matches what they do in the real world. “It’s remarkable how effective it is and how natural people behave even though they know they’re in a simulator. If they realize that it could happen to them, they’ll be very serious about how they respond in the simulator.”
Not only do truck simulators have real truck parts for realistic steering, shifting, gas, brakes, and clutch, simulators can also train drivers under different road, traffic, and weather conditions. For example, drivers can practice:
- snowy mountain passes or fuel-efficient driving on steep grades even if the physical features do not exist nearby
- backing into a loading dock or parallel parking when the training site does not have a lot of space to access
- emergency hazard training, such as deer in the road or cars pulling out of driveways, can be randomized as drivers practice in a safe place
During these training sessions, instructors can focus the driver’s attention, observe, and analyze their driving behavior, and correctly distinguish between errors of perception and response.
After these training sessions, drivers can also review recorded videos of their driving. These scenarios facilitate corrective feedback that is both accurate and meaningful to the learner.
Virage truck simulator now available at CNS Driver Training Center
Beyond our first class, 1-on-1 training at CNS Driver Training Center in Pennsylvania, we use a Virage VS600M truck simulator that is modeled on a standard truck cabin. It consists of a fully functional pneumatic driver seat with all typical controls, a seat belt, pedals and a fully adjustable (height and tilt) steering column with integrated flashers and trailer hand brake.
A range of truck models, engine performances, transmission configurations, differentials and payloads is provided. The simulator reproduces realistic vehicle behaviors under different loading conditions and replicates the effects of gravity during hill driving.
The full set of dashboard instruments, gauges and warning lights are simulated graphically, allowing the user to select different truck types or cabin configurations without the need to change any hardware.
This simulator has a series of learning scenarios to help drivers understand the physical forces that cause a vehicle to consume fuel: rolling and aerodynamic resistance, inertia, braking, and gravity.
As the CDL trainee drives, each physical force acting on his vehicle is represented graphically on the front display. The driver receives immediate feedback on the relationship between these physical forces and his own actions on the gas and brake pedals.
The simulator also has a pre-trip inspection program to help novice drivers learn and memorize the pre-trip inspection contents and sequence. This program can be used by the instructor for a classroom session or provided to the students for home practice and can be customized as required to meet a training school or fleet’s specific requirements.
With the simulator on site, drivers can increase the chances of passing their Full Class A or Class B CDL Test after practicing on our simulator as well as our equipment.
NEED PRACTICE?
All of our CDL training packages provide CDL trainees with time on our Truck Driving Simulator.
We can also offer the simulator at an hourly rate if you are needing to practice certain maneuvers or need a refresher before jumping in a truck and taking your CDL test.
At CNS, we are flexible and can work around your schedule for driving the simulator, testing or CDL training.
Schedule Time on the Simulator