Theta C driving simulator acquired by Michelin

The Theta C simulator connects real people with detailed simulation environments, enabling virtual test driving and evaluation of tire-road-vehicle interactions in advance and in parallel with physical testing.

Continuing its tradition of technical innovations, Michelin is the first company to take delivery of an Ansible Motion Theta C simulator since the product was formally launched.

Compact and powerful

Michelin sees an increasing need for human-in-the-loop simulation. “Our customers rely on virtual vehicle models to gain efficiency, improve performance and reduce cost during the vehicle development process,” explained Rajat Aggarwal, Tire Performance Expert at Michelin.

“Investing in this Ansible Motion Theta C Driver-in-the-Loop simulator allows Michelin to satisfy the needs of our customers for reliable vehicle models by providing robust and accurate tire models. For this reason, Michelin has developed the MICHELIN TameTire tire model, which calculates a tire's thermal and transient state as well as its forces and torques in both offline and online real time simulation environments.”

Ansible Motion’s Theta C simulator is a new, compact, self-contained cube simulator. Its compact form factor belies the underlying architecture, which is powerful enough to handle sophisticated vehicle and environmental physics models, thus allowing validation of emerging automotive technologies.

Adopting a clean-sheet, first-principles design approach has allowed Ansible Motion to introduce the most immersive environment ever for a compact Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulator, whilst making the practical operation much easier.

“We’ve distilled the key engineering-grade componentry that’s required for human immersion inside a small physical space,” stated Kia Cammaerts, Director of Ansible Motion. “We see Theta C as a fundamental building block for connecting real people with automotive simulation environments. It’s aimed at delivering a practical balance between cost, complexity, and capability.”

The Theta C simulator was first unveiled as a prototype in May 2019, at the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2019 in Yokohama, Japan.

After receiving favourable reviews and feedback based on hands-on customer experiences, Ansible Motion readied Theta C for its official introduction. Ansible Motion officially introduced its Theta C simulator in October, 2019.