Virtual Driving Lab Car & Small Truck Simulator

Introducing Virtual Driving Lab, the first privately owned driving simulator in Hawaii! Virtual Driving Lab is available to everyone to improve safe driving skills.

“The year 2022 was a deadly one on Hawaii roads — with more traffic-related fatalities than the three prior years,” according to the Star Advertiser and HDOT. After a slight dip following 2018’s 117 traffic deaths, the number of traffic related fatalities again reached 117 in 2022.

Distracted driving appears to be a factor in many incidents, and as in years past, pedestrians are the most affected.

Virtual Driving Lab is here to help Hawaii’s drivers learn to drive safer. Whether you’re a novice or have years of experience on the road, anyone can benefit from time behind our virtual wheel.

• Fleet vehicles and drivers: Simulator training for fleet drivers can reduce loss ratios, and potentially insurance costs as a result.
• Rehabilitation: If you’re recovering from an injury, our simulator offers a completely safe way to get some practice before going back on the road.
• Driver’s Education: Whether you’re turning 16 or you’re new to Hawaii, getting your driver’s license can be stressful. Our simulator is a safe way to practice driving with zero risk of an accident. You’ll be much more confident when you first get behind the wheel of a real car.
• Valet Companies: Parking lots or ramps and lots of people walking around are a dangerous combination. The Simulator can be used to screen potential new hires and train existing valets to improve safety performance.
• Novice and nervous drivers: Individuals who just want to get some extra practice to gain confidence on the road are also welcome. Whatever makes you most uncomfortable about driving, we have a simulator scenario to help you gain confidence.

Our instructors will guide you through a variety of scenarios designed to remind even veteran drivers of the bad habits they’ve developed over the years.

For example, our Distracted Driving Scenario shows just how dangerous it is to take your eyes off the road. After the simulated drive the system shows how many times a driver looked away from the road, veered out of their lane, stomped on the brake, or followed too close behind the car in front of them. And, in case of a collision, the system estimates the cost of the damage.

That’s just one of more than fifty scenarios available. Other common causes of accidents are also covered: lane changing and avoiding sideswipes, gauging and maintaining a safe following distance, how to adjust to driving in rain or in the dark, or even both rain and dark.

Simulator education goes beyond such scenarios to teach drivers the “Two As” of defensive driving. That’s Awareness and Anticipation. We’ll teach drivers how to be aware of everything around them and to anticipate what others might do so the driver is primed to react to any situation. For example, we should always be aware of pedestrians and bicycles because they could at any moment decide to cross the road in front of us. Another common mistake drivers make is failing to notice cars stopped at an unmarked crosswalk. A defensive driver will instinctively slow down based on the anticipation of a pedestrian crossing the street.

We’ll work with you to design a Simulator program that’s right for you, your patients, or your company’s drivers. During this introductory period, Virtual Driving Lab is waiving hourly fees.

Take advantage of this limited time offer and contact us to learn more. Please call us at 808-233-1234 or fill out the contact form below.

Charley’s Taxi drivers log more than 10 million miles per year, so our number one priority is safety. That is why we have for many years required on-going training with a National Safety Council certified instructor who teaches our drivers a series of Defensive Driving classes as well as ride-along coaching for all drivers.

The NSC training has already produced dramatic results, but we wanted to do more. To take the next big leap in improving the safety of our drivers we needed to expand beyond our existing classroom and on the road education. After a lot of careful research, Charley’s Taxi invested in the Virage VS500 Driving Simulator system. This immersive car and small truck simulator, coupled with a skilled driving safety trainer, has already showed our drivers how to further reduce bad habits.

Charley’s Taxi drivers rehearse common real-world situations in our Virtual Driving Lab. In case a driver is involved in an incident on Oahu’s roads, we can help them learn how to avoid such situations in the future. Our post-incident training combines dashcam footage of the incident with simulator scenarios that directly address issues the driver can improve upon. We also use the simulator to test new drivers before they go out on the road.

Our drivers and simulator also participated in a research project directed by Panos Prevedouros, PhD, Professor and Chair of UH Manoa’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The research explored the effects of distracted driving. As stated in the abstract: “The outcomes are important, statistically significant but not surprising about the negative effects of distraction on driving performance and traffic safety.” More detailed information and results are available here.