The applied research and consulting activities of the DRI staff generally relate to new product evaluations, metric and methodology development, problem solving, and regulatory and litigation technical support in the following areas.

Vehicle Dynamics and Control

• Handling and stability
• Ride, noise, vibration and harshness
• Braking
• Drivability
• Simulation, testing, analysis

Human Factors and Ergonomics

• Human-machine interaction
• Driver behavior and workload
• Subjective response to handling, ride, noise, braking qualities
• Anthropometry

Restraints and Protection Systems

• Impact and rollover simulation (multibody and finite element)
• Special purpose dummy development
• Biomechanics research
• Injury models and risk/benefit analysis
• Accident reconstruction
• Test support, component testing, data analysis

Controls and Display Systems

• Control subsystems (ABS, TCS, 4WS, etc.)
• In-vehicle displays (HUD, ITS devices, telematics, etc.)
• Manual control
• Automatic vehicle controllers
• Feel systems (in simulators, steering augmentation, etc.)

Driving Simulators

• Requirements and design studies
• Software development
• Hardware development
• Systems integration
• Application studies

Aerodynamics

• Analysis and design
• Wind tunnel and full scale tests