Learning to drive with DriveSim driving school simulator

Is it possible to learn to drive on a driving simulator? Cristina is a student of the Arias driving schoolin Zamorawhich is learning to drive. Raquel, his teacher, teaches him how to drive the vehicle and the most basic notions before starting the practical classes with a real car.

In the middle of this month, the regional television of Castilla y León visited this driving school to see first-hand how the students learn to drive. Reporter José Antonio Hernández interviewed Carlos Arias, director of Arisoft, the company that has developed the DriveSim simulation software in collaboration with the Technological Institute of Castilla y León (ITCL).

Carlos Arias, director of Arisoft:

"The simulator is being very well received, especially in some Latin American countries, such as Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador... In Europe we are in Spain and Germany and a little bit in Africa as well, we have already sent several simulators to Angola."

As Carlos Arias told the reporter, with the driving school simulator Drivesim we can experience situations from everyday life "and also situations that are not so everyday. We precisely use the simulator to be able to reproduce them, in a safe environment."

Cristina tells the reporter:

"The truth is that the simulator is very good because you learn the most basic things, which I think will come in handy for your practical work.

Raquel, driving school teacher who teaches Cristina to drive, says that the simulator is "a way of getting started and having the first contacts in something stationary where the students can use the controls, the steering wheel... And then when they get to the car they don't find something so unfamiliar. We use it both in theory classes to teach them the controls of the vehicle, and in the practical class, so that they can even use efficient driving, different situations...".

"By using the simulator here, the students know what to use the brake, accelerator, clutch... The steering wheel, they are no longer so lost and know how to move it and the gear shift, for example, they no longer need to look at the gears. In the car they have a knowledge of something they have already used."

Cristina considers the simulator to be a a tool to support the practice, not to replace it:

"The simulator helps to improve, of course we cannot discard the practice because it is where we are going to have the day to day of the following situations, but it is going to help us a lot. Above all, there are people who are a bit afraid of how it is going to be, even amaxophobia, that panic of driving, and with the simulator they learn to take away their fear of the vehicle."

You can see the complete interview and Cristina's practices in this video: