The latest driving simulator is arriving at the Geely-owned China Euro Vehicle Technology AB (CEVT) innovation center. By early next year, CEVT will welcome a new VI-grade DiM250 driving simulator which allows Geely to improve vehicle safety and even develop cars in less time than ever before.

Designed to replicate a real-world test drive experience, engineers and even test drivers will now have the ability to experience a vehicle that hasn’t been fully built yet. The VI-grade simulator has a cockpit on top that embodies a real vehicle with the steering wheel, pedals, screens, buttons, and even mirrors. The cockpit can be switched out to represent the driver’s seat of any prototype that Geely may be interested in introducing to the market in the future.

It’s the same sort of driving simulator found in other leading carmakers such as Fiat Chrysler (FCA), Honda, and Mercedes-AMG.

In front of the cockpit is a screen that can simulate a test track developed to test different features of the vehicle or a real-world road environment that can do the same. While there are still limitations to what can be tested in these types of simulated situations, this helps engineers and designers get past the initial hiccups that would previously have been encountered at a later stage.

With this simulator, Geely engineers can adjust different components, applying them to the computerized version of the vehicle, and giving it another go to see how the handling or braking improves. Along with making these adjustments, research on autonomous cars, future transportation, and mobility can be tested. In a time of rapid industry developments,

CEVT can be on the forefront of testing, developing and improving different Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems such as Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), and Auto-Piloting.

Imagine you open the door to your vehicle, get in, and begin driving down the road. You turn a few corners and realize that your vehicle doesn’t handle quite the way you want it to. Down the next street, you take your eyes off the road for just a second, and your car automatically hits the brakes, but not quick enough to stop you from rear-ending the vehicle ahead.

Under normal circumstances, that would be a bad day. But with this simulator, a few clicks of a mouse and some keys punched onto a keyboard, you could change how the car drives and the reaction time of your AEB (automatic emergency braking) on the spot, and then just restart at the beginning of your drive.

In the past, if you had a new idea for a function, you’d have to build a prototype, put it in a test car, test it on a track and either decide to keep it or modify it. This process would take months and cost a lot of money. Now, with the simulator, you can design an accurate model of vehicle, input the data and design into the computer and try it directly. You can receive the data immediately and refine, adjust or start over as you see fit. The engineers can control everything in the simulation such as weather and road surface, so tests can be performed in below-zero weather in one moment and scorching heat the next.

With a sizeable investment in the new tech, this simulator will become a crucial instrument in the toolbox of CEVT and Geely Group as they continue to innovate new solutions for the automotive world. As for the brands to be tested using this new equipment, CEVT stated it will be used for the Lynk & Co. brand to begin with, but was adamant that the simulator would become available for all brands under the Geely umbrella. They’re also in talks about opening the doors for outside parties to use the lab as well.