{"id":319,"date":"2025-07-20T08:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T08:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itgoesboink.com\/home\/?page_id=319"},"modified":"2025-07-20T20:54:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T20:54:31","slug":"nissan-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.itgoesboink.com\/home\/nissan-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Nissan US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Role: Lead VR Driving Simulation Engineer (2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nissan needed a way to safely test next-generation augmented-reality features without injury to real pedestrians or property, so instead a virtual-reality driving simulator was needed. This allowed the engineers on their Autonomous Driving team to create the critical use-cases, synthetic environments, and choreographed behavior required to test their product prototype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The simulator featured modular tiles, each equipped with navigation nodes, with some designed for intersections with semaphores. The driving experience exhibited the augmented-reality (AR) display Nissan was developing in response to the simulated environment, as well as collected a variety of channels of telemetry data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system was comprised of a Valve Index VR Headset equipped with a Leap Motion Controller, paired with a Logitech Steering Wheel and Pedal kit. The virtual wheel was synchronized with the physical wheel, and hand tracking was performed using the Leap Motion Controller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To allow Test Designers to focus on the transit elements of the environment, an urban-themed, structure population system was developed to automate the process of filling in the non-drivable, but necessary environmental elements. Below shows an earlier prototype, however a District system, as well as Building-Part system was later introduced, which allowed for completely random, but theme-bound structures to be generated, within parameters set by the District in which they reside. This provided an automated way to populate the environment in ways that give different areas a unique visual “identity”, but also help prevent the driver from getting lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A custom node-network system was developed for both agent pathfinding, as well as traffic system integration. The popular A*<\/em> (“A-Star”) algorithm was leveraged to allow the agents to navigate the network according to traffic laws, and other expected behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pathfinding nodes could be marked for various agents, allowing pedestrians to remain confined to the sidewalk, while still crossing the street, and vehicular agents would queue at traffic lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n