This unity simulation was part of a university research project in the realm of virtual reality. It aimed to explore enhancing tourists' sense of place with an autonomous shuttle bus. The research question posed was: “How can auditory information provided by announcements of bus drivers in an autonomous shuttle bus enhance a tourists' sense of place?”
Two auditory concepts to be tested were created and therefore two simulations with different bus driver announcements were implemented.
As the city for the bus to drive a tour, New York was chosen. The corresponding city model was a unity asset which can be found in the unity asset store (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/urban/real-new-york-city-vol-2-222827).
Considerations for the route planning and selections of the points of interests of the autonomous bus included proximity of three points of interests towards one another and depiction of the point of interest within the 3D model.
The chosen route connected the following points of interests:
- Heckscher Playground
- Carnegie Hall
- Museum of Modern Art
