There are well known ways of testing vehicles in many of the situations a vehicle is to operate such as extreme temperatures, harsh vibrations or corrosive environments. One of the environmental variables that is not so simple to recreate artificially is that of the ambient illumination that a vehicle will encounter in the real world.

Artificially recreating the ambient illumination that a vehicle will encounter in the real world has become very important to the automotive industry with the advances in display and touch screen technologies used within vehicles. This is due to the effects of ambient lighting condition within the vehicle; reduced legibility of displays and distracting or uncomfortable glare from windows and reflective surfaces.

This research project will define a methodology to recreate daylight for vehicle interior evaluations and propose best practice of physical and virtual evaluations in terms of the vehicle production lifecycle.