Vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists at times struggle to navigate the new road layouts in city centres, as do some drivers. For professional drivers such as lorry, van and HGV drivers, keeping up with the rules associated with new urban traffic designs is equally challenging.
To ensure they remain abreast of road safety regulations, professional drivers regularly undertake accredited training sessions on the road, to experience and understand the many potential hazards vulnerable road users face. For fleet management and infrastructure companies like FM Conway, who employ thousands of drivers, there is an increasing case to implement a new approach that is more cost effective and time-efficient in the long run.This was the genesis of the collaboration between FrancisKodak and FM Conway to roll out the anet360 mobile-based immersive training programme.
First of its kind driver training software
The Virtual Reality Safe Urban Driving course, delivered through the anet360 platform is designed with insights from experts with decades of experience in the road transport sector. It’s immersive nature includes simulation of real world scenarios to deliver the same impactful training that professional drivers undergo on the road.
The platform is designed to simplify the complete driver training process. An easy to navigate attendee registration and verification process, an engaging training program, user feedback system and analytics function all on one platform.Its interactive, blended approach to training is created to deliver a more engaging, safe urban driving (SUD) training course in a classroom, without the need to spend hours on the road. Its syllabus was carefully crafted to give learners the knowledge required to be road safe, including comprehensive knowledge of safety equipment in the many types of vehicles driven by professional drivers.
To recreate the experience of driving an imposing vehicle such as a lorry or truck on urban roads that are used by pedestrians and cyclists, 360-degree panoramic videos were taken from a number of vantage points. These videos form the basis of the virtual reality element of the course, where learners see what drivers and cyclists see in relation to other road users during their travels.
The many benefits of using VR includes:
- Enabling trainers to deliver a safe and realistic session, without risk of injury or damage.
- Higher engagement with attendees as well as higher retention and recall of topics covered.
- Stronger memories created from immersive experiences
“Very useful and helpful not just to better understand legislations but how VRUs behave on roads”
"It was a very informative training and liked the VR elements - it was surprisingly easy to use"
