gravel road KCRG screenshot

Univ. of Iowa researchers aim to expand transportation options in rural parts of the state

Monday, November 4, 2024
The University of Iowa recently completed a research project on a self-driving van. Specifically, it’s looking at how these automated vehicles could work in rural parts of the state.
Omar Ahmad in front of the automated shuttle bus

‘We can not forget about rural America’: UI researchers working towards accessible transportation

Tuesday, October 29, 2024
The University of Iowa Driving Safety and Research Institute recently completed a research project to help rural America. The project hopes to combat challenges facing rural communities across Iowa and the nation.
Automated Transit on gravel road

Working to safely bring automated driving to rural roads

Thursday, October 17, 2024
Researchers at the Driving Safety Research Institute at the University of Iowa have completed more than three years of testing to learn the challenges automated vehicles encounter when operating on rural roads.
Elizabeth O'Neal explains children crossing behavior with self-driving cars

Children as pedestrians: Pedestrian safety and self-driving cars

Monday, September 16, 2024
The National Science Foundation features our partners at the Hank Virtual Environments Lab and our facility at DSRI in a new video on children crossing roads with self-driving cars.
Diagram of a standard four-lane road next to a diagram of a three-lane road with a center turn lane

Iowa research examines impact of ‘road diets’ on emergency response

Friday, August 9, 2024
A new study from University of Iowa researchers examines how converting four-lane roads to three-lane roads impacts emergency responses.
Inside the NADS-1 simulator

University of Iowa testing drunken driver sensing technology

Monday, July 15, 2024
The Gazette reports: The UI Driving Safety Research Institute — home to the National Advanced Driving Simulator — recently landed $2 million from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to assess how effective new driver monitoring systems might be at determining if someone is driving drunk.
Inside the NADS-1 simulator with graduate student Emily Shull and staff member Noah Rothermel

Driving Safety Research Institute analyzing new tech to identify alcohol impairment

Wednesday, June 12, 2024
The University of Iowa Driving Safety Research Institute was recently awarded $2 million from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to analyze the effectiveness of driver monitoring systems on their ability to detect if someone is driving while drunk—specifically, if they are over the legal limit or not.
Communicator Award of Excellence

2022 DSRI Annual Report wins national communications award

Friday, May 24, 2024
Our 2022 Annual Report has been recognized by the 30th Annual Communicator Awards by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (AIVA).
A group of students huddle around a portable driving simulator.

Celebrating 10 years of SAFER-SIM

Monday, April 22, 2024
Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) is a grant-funded Tier 1 University Transportation Center that shares its research with both students and researchers. See a summary of its impact over the last 10 years.
A bearded man stands next to the vehicle cab inside in NADS-2 simulator.

A Plethora of Driver Monitoring System (DMS) Data

Monday, April 15, 2024
Researchers at DSRI have combined data sets from six past studies that all looked at the use of various driver monitoring systems (DMS) to detect drowsiness, distraction, and other types of impairment.
A man drives a car in a driving simulator.

Two simulators, One simulation

Monday, March 25, 2024
In a multi-year project to connect the NADS-1 and NADS-2 simulators into the same virtual environment, the DSRI team upgraded the hardware and vehicle cab of the NADS-2 simulator. A new full cab is in the NADS-2 space, with a motion base for the cab that uses the miniSim architecture.
Birds eye view of an Unreal Engine scenario of a school

New and upcoming features for miniSim users

Monday, February 26, 2024
Our miniSim program is now supporting a few major upgrades plus more upgrades that will be available soon to miniSim users.
An aerial view of two women sitting in the front of a Volvo XC90 while using adaptive cruise control/

The ADAS experts

Monday, February 12, 2024
Our investigators have been working on a series of studies analyzing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) technology and consumer understanding of ADAS features.
Dawn Marshall and Tim Brown demonstrate the simulator setup for the alcohol detection study.

Driver monitoring systems (DMS) for cannabis and alcohol detection

Wednesday, January 31, 2024
2023 was a year of driver monitoring systems (DMS) analyses for both cannabis and alcohol detection. DMS projects were collaborations between the University of Colorado, Swinburn University, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and Seeing Machines.
Reichert sits in the half-cab and holds the original Sonata gauge cluster in his right hand and holds the new digital gauge cluster in his left hand

Mechanical engineering student Ken Reichert builds miniSims

Tuesday, January 9, 2024
University of lowa mechanical engineering student Kenneth Reichert has worked on building a custom half-cab simulator alongside miniSim team members for the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
2023 Annual Report cover

2023: A Year in Review

Monday, January 1, 2024
Check out our recent highlights and accomplishments from the Driving Safety Research Institute, home of the National Advanced Driving Simulator.
ADS Webinar 5 screenshot

ADS Webinar #5 recording: 9 Things to Know When Testing AVs on Rural Roads

Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Watch the recording of our fifth webinar to learn about our top nine challenges and successes from testing a highly automated vehicle on rural Iowa roads, including driving under automation on gravel, in winter weather, using high speeds (65 mph), and more.
DSRI Open House

Photo Gallery: DSRI Open House

Monday, October 23, 2023
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our public open house on Oct. 18 and took a ride in our automated Transit!
KCRG screenshot

University of Iowa Driving Safety Research Institute holds open house showcasing current work and the future of driving

Friday, October 20, 2023
On October 18th, people got an up close look at the work being done here in Eastern Iowa on the future of driving and driver safety.