How Ford’s Virtual Testing Environment Is Driving Real-World Results

An industry-leading vehicle simulator located on Ford’s Dearborn campus is driving very real results in the company’s quality and cost savings. The Dynamic Driving Simulator, located in the Driving Dynamics Lab, is the company’s most capable simulator. It can be used in various stages as early as the infancy of a program to evaluate architectures and concepts, vehicle dynamics, management drives, and to assess hardware and other program decisions throughout development. 

Simulation and Core Methods Supervisor Louis Jamail, a 27-year Ford veteran who has also worked on various programs in vehicle dynamics and vehicle development, oversees the simulator. Jamail and his team have grown from just two members about a decade ago to a global team of 11 as the company’s simulation capabilities have expanded across various departments and organizations. Ford also has simulators located in Germany, Belgium, Australia, Brazil, and China, which all utilize the same hardware and software stack; however, the Dearborn-based simulator remains the most capable in Ford’s arsenal.

Time (creating) machine  

The simulator is a vital tool in helping Ford improve quality and reduce cost by enabling exponentially more testing by teams in various stages of development. This allows them to make decisions earlier in a program and to test changes, including cost actions, more quicky to ensure an excellent customer experience. Since its debut in 2021, the simulator has eliminated the need for hundreds of prototypes and so-called “Franken-vehicles,” and it is estimated to save millions of dollars in its first five years of use.   

“We can look at many different concepts early and get rid of those that either cost too much or don’t have as much benefit for the customer,” Jamail said. 

Examples of the simulator’s impact can be seen in current models, including the Ford Maverick, Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, and the all-new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. In the case of Maverick, elements of the pickup’s suspension were developed entirely in the simulator, which improved its driving dynamics and sped its time to market. The virtual test environment helped give Mustang Mach-E its sporty handling, while the new Expedition and Navigator’s ride handling, steering development, trailer tow capability, and overall dynamics performance were developed using the simulator. Ford’s Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) team is also using the simulator to help with continued updates to BlueCruise, the company’s acclaimed hands-free highway driving technology.  

Always improving 

The Dynamic Driving Simulator is always improving through regular software updates. Ford has also upgraded its computational power, which enables more detailed real-time co-simulation. While some competitors may have similar technology at their disposal, Ford is getting the most use out of its simulator, having had the highest uptime last year, according to Jamail. The team can run approximately 40 tests in just one day. 

“This testing is becoming fairly mainstream across the auto industry, but we’ve developed tools that have helped us accelerate how much we can use it in an efficient way,” Jamail said. “We take less time to get the model set up and running properly, because we’ve streamlined that whole process and that’s some really good intellectual property that Ford has that other companies don’t.”

See for yourself  

A select group of employees recently had the opportunity to experience the simulator for themselves. The simulator’s adaptability allowed them to drive three Ford vehicles with varied drive experiences during their visit: a Mustang Mach-E GT, a Bronco with the Sasquatch Package, and an F-150. They went through several different driving scenarios designed to showcase vehicle dynamics and performance, including topping 100 mph on a winding highway, an off-road course based on a real public road in Arizona, and an experience with a fully loaded vehicle. The simulator includes a live microphone for communication between the simulator buck and the nearby control room. 

Sebastian Rojas Garcia, an intern in Manufacturing Controls and social media ambassador, was floored by how accurately the simulator re-creates real-world driving conditions, allowing him to feel every bump and turn. The University of Michigan mechanical engineering student noted that the simulator also accurately depicted the driving dynamics of the different vehicles he experienced, including an F-150 loaded with the weight of a virtual bed full of concrete. 

Color and Material Designer Haleigh Esene said she was “shell-shocked” by the drive in the simulator, which felt more sensitive than a production vehicle, with quicker responses to inputs like braking and accelerating. She was inspired by her experience in the test rig, coming up with ideas for color and material choices that could be used in the areas of the steering wheel and instrument panel based on what drivers see and feel. 

“This experience shifted my perspective and inspired me to think more broadly, and it showed me how we can all work more interconnected between departments,” she said.