Udine, Italy, February 12th, 2025 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced the launch of its COMPACT HMI Simulator, a versatile and immersive tool designed to enhance the development, evaluation, and testing of Human-Machine Interface systems in vehicle interiors. The new solution from VI-grade uniquely combines a flexible interior simulator with real-time driving simulation, thus integrating accurate vehicle dynamics, AI-powered traffic scenarios, diverse driving conditions, and the ability to incorporate virtually any hardware or software in the loop (HIL/SIL). This comprehensive approach enables engineers to refine HMI designs in realistic driving environments without relying on static mockups or costly physical prototypes.
The system features a modular, reconfigurable interior buck that accommodates various seating, steering, dashboard, and display configurations, allowing designers to prototype and evaluate multiple HMI layouts without requiring separate physical mockups. With automated adjustments, it replicates seating, steering, and pedal conditions for different vehicle types, from sports cars to SUVs, within a single setup. In addition to its flexible and rapidly configurable architecture, this solution also includes the full capabilities of a real-time driving simulator, supporting XIL testing and validation. It facilitates human-in-the-loop testing, allowing engineers to assess HMI usability and driver interaction under realistic driving conditions. It also provides direct interaction with digital instrument clusters, infotainment touchscreens, and voice controls in a controlled yet immersive environment. The COMPACT HMI Simulator also supports ADAS and driver monitoring research, facilitating studies on driver distraction, workload, and interaction with automation features.
The COMPACT HMI Simulator has already been adopted by two leading automotive manufacturers, marking a significant step forward in HMI development and validation.
“HMI design is a critical aspect of modern vehicle development, directly impacting user experience, safety, and driver interaction with advanced driver-assistance systems”, commented Guido Bairati, Managing Director of VI-grade. “However, traditional evaluation methods rely on static mockups or costly physical prototypes, which are time-intensive and inflexible. Our new COMPACT HMI Simulator overcomes these limitations by providing a configurable and highly immersive simulation environment that allows engineers to experience and refine HMI designs in real-time driving scenarios. We are especially excited to see its immediate industry impact, with two units already sold to automotive manufacturers, demonstrating the market’s strong demand for flexible, simulation-driven HMI development solutions.”
Udine, Italy, February 4th, 2025 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced that Bridgestone has invested in VI-grade’s state-of-the-art dynamic driving simulator. The new simulator will be installed at Bridgestone’s EMEA R&D Centre near Rome, Italy, enhancing their Virtual Tire Development (VTD) capabilities and enabling a more sustainable and efficient approach to tire innovation.
With this investment, Bridgestone aims to scale up its ability to virtually design, test, and validate tires using advanced simulation and AI technologies. By combining VI-grade’s high-fidelity simulator with its existing simulation and AI technologies, Bridgestone can simulate complex tire-vehicle interactions adopting a fully virtualized process. This approach accelerates time-to-market, saves physical prototypes and improves collaboration with OEMs by enabling simultaneous tire and vehicle development through iterative virtual testing. Additionally, the new simulator will empower Bridgestone to achieve its sustainability goals by reducing physical testing and material waste. The company projects that up to 12,000 experimental tires will be saved annually, contributing to a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions and raw material consumption.
“This investment in our internal Driver-in-the-Loop simulation capabilities is a major milestone as we build a comprehensive ecosystem for accurately predicting tire performance in the virtual world. It also gives us the capabilities to experiment with new and innovative combinations of designs and materials in a fully virtual environment,” says Emilio Tiberio, Chief Technology Officer Bridgestone West.
“Bridgestone’s investment in the state-of-the-art dynamic driving simulator reflects the trust that global industry leaders place in our simulation solutions“, added Guido Bairati, Managing Director at VI-grade. “Widely recognized as the industry standard and used extensively by OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers worldwide, our state-of-the-art dynamic driving simulator is the perfect tool for Bridgestone to enhance their virtual tire development capabilities, reduce time to market, and achieve their ambitious sustainability goals.”
Darmstadt, Germany, January 22nd, 2025 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced the availability of the virtual proving ground data of HORIBA MIRA’s extensive testing facility in Nuneaton, UK. These new tracks, highly accurate digital representations of HORIBA MIRA’s renowned proving grounds, are now available in VI-WorldSim for both offline and online simulations, enabling enhanced virtual testing capabilities for the automotive sector.
This collaboration aims to support engineers and manufacturers by providing cutting-edge virtual testing environments. The integration of HORIBA MIRA’s virtual proving ground data into VI-grade’s simulation platforms enhances the ability to conduct advanced testing, including vehicle dynamics optimization, ADAS calibration, and NVH analysis, within an immersive and flexible digital framework. The newly available tracks include:
Ride & Handling and City Circuit: This proving ground features a unique 2.22 km multi-user circuit for Ride and Handling, along with a 3.7 km fully configurable urban and suburban environment for CAV development. It is located within the 850-acre MIRA Technology Park in Warwickshire, UK.
Wet Handling: This 1.7 km track is dedicated to wet handling performance testing, allowing for precise evaluation of vehicle stability and control on wet surfaces.
Ride Routes: The Ride Routes track simulates various urban and suburban driving scenarios around MIRA Technology Park. It is designed to evaluate ride quality, comfort, and durability in real-world conditions.
Ride Surfaces: This 4.2 km section consists of parallel lanes designed to assess specific vehicle performance characteristics. The lanes include surfaces for NVH testing, comfort evaluation, and geometric event simulations such as bumps and potholes
With this collaboration, over 12 km of highly detailed digital tracks have been added to VI-grade’s simulation environment, VI-WorldSim, further expanding the range of scenarios available for virtual vehicle testing and development.
“It’s fantastic to now offer HORIBA MIRA and VI-grade customers the ability to develop their vehicles virtually, on our proving ground surfaces, within industry leading real time software applications,” commented Jon Maybin, Head of Strategic Sales, Vehicle Attributes. “This offering, together with VI-grade, further expands access to our digital surfaces within a growing software portfolio and cements the long-standing collaboration with VI-grade. The digital twin complements HORIBA MIRA’s existing turnkey offering to the industry with engineering services, digital twins and test and validation services, all delivered from Europe’s largest Automotive R&D location, the MIRA Technology Park.”
“We are pleased to announce this important step towards integrating HORIBA MIRA’s renowned proving ground data into our simulation ecosystem,” commented Guido Bairati, Managing Director at VI-grade. “This collaboration represents our continued commitment to providing advanced tools that address the evolving needs of the automotive industry.”
Darmstadt, Germany, December 12, 2024 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced its upcoming 2025 ZERO PROTOTYPES Summit. This annual flagship event is slated to take place May 13-15, 2025, at VI-grade’s SimCenter facility in Udine, Italy – the company’s main development hub featuring the full range of simulation software, driving simulators and Hardware-in-the-Loop technologies.
This flagship annual event brings together professionals from across the automotive industry to explore the latest advancements in virtual vehicle development. The 2025 summit will maintain its proven format, offering a blend of:
Keynote and Technical Presentations: Industry leaders, including OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, universities, and research centers, will share their insights, experiences, and best practices in utilizing VI-grade technologies
Hands-On Demonstrations: Attendees will have the opportunity to experience VI-grade’s innovative solutions through interactive sessions tailored to specific automotive applications
Networking and Knowledge Sharing: Numerous opportunities to connect with peers and industry experts, enhancing professional growth and preparing for emerging challenges in the automotive sector.
“The ZERO PROTOTYPES Summit is a cornerstone event for fostering innovation and collaboration within the automotive industry,” said Guido Bairati, Managing Director of VI-grade.“In an era of increasing complexity, cost pressures, and the demand for faster time-to-market, our summit offers a platform for companies to explore how virtual testing – through simulation software, driving simulators, and HiL solutions – can drive resilience and growth. We are excited to once again welcome global industry leaders to our SimCenter in Udine, empowering them to push boundaries and innovate with confidence.”
Udine, Italy, November 14th, 2024 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced the launch of VI-ZeroLatency, an AI-based compensation algorithm based on Sybille® technology supplied by AddFor S.p.A. Integrated within the VI-DriveSim software suite, VI-ZeroLatency ensures near-zero delays across subsystems, significantly enhancing performance of driving simulators and, in the future, remote Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) applications.
VI-ZeroLatency leverages artificial intelligence to predict real-time signals from key driving simulator components such as the motion platform, graphics and sound. By employing pre-trained machine learning models, the solution anticipates subsystem responses, allowing for a more realistic driving experience. The AI algorithm is designed to deliver smoother feedback and minimize disturbances caused by latency, enhancing the simulator’s overall performance. Looking ahead, VI-ZeroLatency will also facilitate the remote connection of a vehicle model with a driving simulator or an HiL test bench in different locations, transforming global collaboration among the various vehicle development stakeholders.
VI-ZeroLatency is fully compatible with all VI-grade simulators, requiring no extensive hardware upgrades, making it a cost-effective solution for users looking to enhance their simulation capabilities. As part of VI-DriveSim, the algorithm integrates easily with VI-CarRealTime, VI-WorldSim, VI-SimSound and VI-MotionCueing, ensuring comprehensive, real-time simulation across multiple platforms. VI-ZeroLatency also supports 3rd party vehicle models.
“Reducing latency is essential to delivering a more accurate and realistic simulation experience”, said Guido Bairati, Managing Director at VI-grade. “By integrating artificial intelligence, VI-ZeroLatency takes our simulation solutions to the next level, eliminating noticeable delays and bringing our simulators closer to zero latency. This AI-driven advancement, implemented in collaboration with AddFor, ensures that our customers are equipped with state-of-the-art tools for efficient and accurate virtual vehicle testing.”
Darmstadt, Germany, October 30th, 2024 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced the release of the 2025.1 versions of its flagship products: VI-CarRealTime, VI-WorldSim, VI-NVHSim and VI-DriveSim. These updates deliver enhanced performance, new functionalities, and broader compatibility, further strengthening VI-grade’s commitment to supporting its customers in creating better virtual prototypes and accelerating vehicle development cycles.
VI-CarRealTime 2025.1 introduces significant efficiency improvements, including support for save/restore functionality in plug-ins generated from Simulink and FMU subsystems, and enhanced capabilities for running multiple events in parallel. This version also offers improved computational efficiency for MaxPerformance simulations, leading to a reduction in static calculation time by up to 50%. Users will benefit from new support for user-defined inputs and enhanced scalability features.
VI-WorldSim 2025.1 offers expanded functionalities for immersive simulation environments. Notable features include a new section of the VI-WorldSim ModKit dedicated to creating custom object libraries, regional road signs for the US, Japan, and Italy, improved camera tracking capabilities, and enhanced support for obstacle files and animated steering wheels in VR environments. The new version also offers greater flexibility for object file management and expanded API support for controlling vehicle headlights.
VI-NVHSim 2025.1 continues to push the boundaries of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) simulation. The new release improves usability for projects with complex assemblies, introduces support for VR scenarios, and adds an all-new task manager for recording and managing NVH data. Additional enhancements include a more comprehensive Time History Monitor Display and expanded analog input channels for vibration recordings, ensuring more accurate NVH analysis.
VI-DriveSim 2025.1 introduces several new features to enhance the driving simulation experience, including advanced replay management tools, improved fidelity of Full Spectrum simulators and full compatibility with Simulation Workbench for Windows. This latest release also includes VI-ZeroLatency, an AI-based latency compensation algorithm developed in collaboration with Addfor SpA, powered by Sybille® technology, to minimize latency on motion platforms for a smoother, more responsive simulation experience.
“We are proud to introduce the 2025.1 versions of our flagship simulation solutions, designed to deliver even more robust and precise simulation environments,” commented Roberto De Vecchi, Product Development Manager.“These innovations empower our customers to optimize virtual testing workflows, reduce reliance on physical prototypes, and drive efficiency in vehicle development”
The 2025.1 software release, including a detailed list of new features and enhancements, is now available for download. Registered users can access and download version 2025.1 by logging into the reserved area of the VI-grade website.
Darmstadt, Germany, October 2nd , 2024 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced an expanded collaboration with Applus+ IDIADA, a global leader in design, engineering, testing, and homologation services for the automotive industry. This partnership introduces IDIADA's high-fidelity vehicle models - accurate digital twins based on real-world test data - into VI-grade's VI-CarRealTime software for advanced simulation and testing capabilities.
The collaboration represents a significant step forward in virtual vehicle development, enabling automotive OEMs and suppliers to use IDIADA's validated vehicle models in both offline and online simulations on driving simulators through the VI-CarRealTime platform. These models, derived from physical vehicle testing, allow manufacturers to perform in-depth virtual evaluations of vehicle dynamics and performance with customizable parameters such as tire models and payloads, ensuring more flexible and accurate development workflows.
"We are excited to deepen our relationship with VI-grade," said Guido Tosolin, Senior Manager Chassis Development at Applus+ IDIADA. "The integration of our vehicle models into VI-CarRealTime ensures seamless interaction between virtual and physical test environments, enabling our customers to accelerate development cycles while maintaining uncompromising standards of safety and performance."
“This expanded collaboration with Applus+ IDIADA further strengthens our commitment to our Zero Prototypes strategy, bridging the gap between virtual and physical vehicle testing,” commented Guido Bairati, Managing Director at VI-grade. “By offering vehicle models based on real-world data from IDIADA’s testing facilities, our customers can achieve more accurate simulations and faster development times. This strengthened partnership will greatly enhance their ability to prepare, validate, and refine their vehicle designs in a virtual environment before moving to physical tests.”
Tokyo, Japan, August 7th, 2024 – VI-grade, the global provider of human-centric simulation-driven vehicle development solutions, today announced the inauguration of Asia’s first Simulation & Virtual Testing Lab, S&VL R&D Center in Ota (Gumma), Japan. This new facility is equipped with VI-grade’s DiM300, an advanced large-scale simulator, building on the success of the award-winning DiM150 and DiM250 models, but with extended workspace through longer tripod actuators.
S&VL is a premier Japanese engineering service provider closely collaborating with key players in the Japanese automotive industry. With the opening of the S&VL R&D Center, S&VL will provide high-level virtual testing services to Japanese automobile manufacturers and suppliers. The company aims to solve challenges faced by all manufacturing industries, including enhancing development efficiency, product quality, and shortening development time using digital and virtual technologies.
With the DiM300, S&VL seeks to promote the wider adoption of driving simulators across the automotive industry, providing its customers with an unparalleled simulation and virtual testing environment to streamline automotive development processes. Based on the same patented architecture as VI-grade’s DiM250 model, the DiM300 introduces a host of cutting-edge features, including an extended operating range and higher tripod velocity. It demonstrates an impressive ability to perform large planar displacements with virtually no motion cueing, offering engineers an unprecedented level of realism and versatility.
"The automotive industry is currently facing a once-in-a-century transformation. In order to survive this new era together with the Japanese automobile industry, there is an urgent need to respond to all kinds of changes, including the environmental performance of electric vehicles, the basic performance of driving, turning, and braking, and autonomous driving/advanced safety. What we should strive for is a development process that allows us to assess reliability before manufacturing. We believe this is digital development using a driving simulator. Installing, maintaining, and operating a driving simulator is very costly, but we hope to lower the barriers so that not only automotive OEMs but also suppliers can use it," said Hideyuki Muramatsu, CEO of S&VL.
"With the opening of the Simulation & Virtual Testing Lab, equipped with our state-of-the-art DiM300 simulator, we are excited to support the Japanese automotive industry in pushing the boundaries of vehicle development. This facility represents a significant step forward in providing engineers with the tools they need to enhance development efficiency and accelerate innovation through advanced simulation technologies.”, commented Guido Bairati, Managing Director of VI-grade.
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