Application and Exploration of Virtual Reality Technology in the Teaching of Urban Public Transport

Application and Exploration of Virtual Reality Technology in the Teaching of Urban Public Transport Related Courses

◎XiangWang （Institutes Of Technology Of Changsha   School of Transportation Engineering   Changsha, Hunan 410114）

Abstract: Virtual reality technology is an intelligent and visual frontier technology crossing many disciplines, and its biggest application in the field of transportation is automobile driving simulator. Based on the introduction of the function of virtual reality technology, this paper probes into the application possibility of high simulation degree automobile driving simulator in the teaching of urban public transport related courses, and expounds the teaching application mode based on the experimental module.

Keywords: new engineering, virtual reality, transportation, experimental teaching module

First. Background

Virtual reality technology includes computer, electronic information and simulation technology, and its basic realization mode is that computer simulates virtual environment, thus giving people a sense of environmental immersion. High-simulation automobile driving simulator is two typical applications of virtual reality technology in traffic field. At present, many countries have introduced intelligent vehicle driving simulator into vehicle driving teaching. The auxiliary teaching in vehicle driving simulation period plays a role in promoting the technological content of vehicle driving training [1]; Luo Wancheng of Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences put forward an engineering practice system with VR practical projects as the carrier to cultivate "new engineering" talents needed by virtual reality industry [2]; Shi Lei, combined with the background of transportation discipline and years of exploration and research on experimental teaching of driver's factor operation management, fully expounded the experimental teaching system and construction principle of "three levels, three modules and three guarantees", and emphatically discussed the contents and implementation of three experimental teaching modules of driver's factor operation management [3]; Wang Haiyan analyzed the application of virtual reality technology in the teaching of related courses of rail transit vehicles [4].

Previous studies mainly focused on the development of virtual reality technology and its application in disciplines, but few of them went deep into specific courses. Therefore, this paper discusses the application mode of virtual reality technology from a more microscopic level, facing the course of urban public transportation.

Second, the characteristics of urban public transport courses

Urban public transport course is the main course of traffic engineering, transportation and other majors. It is necessary to systematically introduce the relationship between urban public transport and traffic participants, vehicles, roads and environment, and explain the relationship between various elements of public transport system and operation management and efficiency, including passenger flow investigation, network planning, preparation of traffic operation plan, application of dispatching methods, intelligent dispatching technology and its application. It can enable students to think about operation management problems in combination with planning and design concepts, and provide countermeasures for formulating urban public transport operation management. At present, the phenomenon of high proportion motorization and intelligent demand of public transport vehicles has brought new problems to the operation and management of urban public transport, which will be discussed in this course.

This course mainly includes three core contents: the classification, composition and characteristics of seven urban public transport modes; Traffic planning and dispatching management of urban public transport; Urban public transport evaluation and station operation management. Case teaching method is suitable for traffic planning, system evaluation and operation management. For example, the influence of bus stop behavior on other vehicles' driving behavior, it is difficult for words and pictures to clearly describe the whole process and key influencing factors.

Third, the application of virtual reality technology in urban public transport course teaching

The application of virtual reality technology in the field of urban public transport mainly relies on high-fidelity automobile driving simulator and VR glasses to provide students with a visual, interactive and mutual feedback simulation experiment environment, so that students can experience the influence of different urban public transport operation scheduling management schemes on all traffic participants through driving experiment operation or immersive scene viewing. By adjusting different schemes of visual experimental scenes, we can compare and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the schemes, and determine the suggested values of key influencing factors. Different scenarios can correspond to different principles and concepts. Therefore, the application of virtual reality technology in urban public transport course teaching can include the following three parts:

1. Standardize the production of urban public transport scenes. There are many knowledge points involved in urban public transport, so it is necessary to sort out the knowledge points suitable for virtual reality experiments at first, and then, based on the hardware and software characteristics of virtual reality equipment, determine the influencing factors of urban public transport operation and management, including roads, terrain, traffic ancillary facilities, static vehicles, dynamic vehicles, non-motor vehicles, buses, pedestrians, bus stops, tree environment and so on, which are included in the scene, and build a standard scene in a modular way.

2. Analysis of the influence mechanism of urban public transport operation and management. After the standardized urban public transport scene is made, students conduct experiments on virtual reality devices, such as high-simulation automobile driving simulator or VR glasses. Through video display and human-computer interaction, students can feel the influence mechanism of urban public transport operation management methods on urban transport in the experiment, and the combination of theoretical knowledge explanation, classroom case discussion and experimental teaching can enhance students' understanding depth.

3. Comparison of program results and program improvement. When students complete the experimental link of virtual simulation experiment scene, process the experimental data, compare and analyze the results of experiments of several schemes, further improve their active thinking and learning ability, ask students to analyze the causes of the results of standardized scenes, refine the key indicators that affect the results of different schemes, and put forward targeted improvement schemes based on the numerical optimization analysis of key indicators, then re-make the experimental scenes for practice, and circularly carry out the process of "theoretical study-scene making-simulation experiment-scheme improvement".

References:

[1] Wang Shifa, Wan Yuanhong, Ran Xiaojiang. Application significance of intelligent car driving simulator in car driving teaching [J]. Contemporary educational practice and teaching research: Electronic Journal, 2017, 000(004):221.

[2] Luo Wancheng. Virtual reality technology and "new engineering" talent cultivation-taking Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences as an example [J]. Collection, 2018, 1: 007.

[3] Shi Lei. Design of experimental teaching system of human factors operation management based on driving simulator [J]. Laboratory Science, 2020, 23(5):7.

Wang Haiyan, Ruan Jiuhong, Wang Shoufeng. Application of virtual reality technology in the teaching of rail transit vehicles [J]. Education and Teaching Forum, 2016 (14): 259-260.

Fund: Teaching Reform Research Project of Changsha University of Science and Technology (JG2021YB02).