10020744Virtual Driving SchoolClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKCGA is a pioneering simulation, modelling, games studio that combines innovative gaming and emerging technologies. The team can visualise future interactions between humans, smart cities, vehicles, and technologies. During lockdown, CGA created an online learner driving game, Virtual Driving School (VDS) to help learner drivers test their driving skills in a safe, virtual space. 'Turn on the ignition, test your driving mettle against a dynamic, constantly changing set of road hazards, junctions, weather conditions and road companions. Navigate the road and manage standard driving test manoeuvres: parallel parking, roundabouts, and junctions. A virtual driving instructor gives you praise or advice where needed.' Many young people learning to drive during the pandemic couldn't access physical driving lessons so CGA Simulation created a virtual driving game to help young people practice driving skills. However, consultation with driving instructors, Department for Transport, parents, revealed a taste for a more realistic driving test game for learner drivers post lockdown (the UK and abroad.) Many young people don't have a car to practice driving, between lessons, and the cost of driving lessons can be prohibitive. In the US, some parents feel their driving test is not thorough enough and a tool to continue learning with would be welcomed. VDS would also teach bus, lorry, and returner drivers online. CGA created other games & simulation solutions for 'real world' problems, prior to VDS. One project, ALEAD, tests the safety of autonomous vehicle technology with simulated road networks/hazards. The vast, complex array of hazards and road scenarios created for ALEAD are now in VDS. The COVSIM project modelled the spread of Covid 19 around a UK town. Techniques perfected in these projects give VDS the innovative edge, against similar driving test sims, whilst the game also benefits from CGA's games development background with its rich graphics. ALEAD, COVSIM, and now VDS use Agent Based Modelling (ABM). ABM mathematically models interactions between things in CGA's simulations - in this case other cars, driving hazards, weather conditions, junctions, test scenarios. ABM differs from other modelling techniques because it gives more agency to the things being modelled. They interact independently, generating randomised 'pattern of life' interactions. ABM is a perfect modelling tool for designing a learner driver game; players are pitted against multiple distractions at once, during a fun game that's realistic in terms of managing complex driving scenarios.