Motion Simulators That Offer "an Unrivalled Level of Realism" - Dynisma's CEO Ash Warne

Dynisma is a UK-based motion simulator technology company. Its Founder, Chief Engineer and CEO, Ash Warne, started his career at McLaren Racing where he led the user and development of driving simulators, before moving to Scuderia Ferrari in Italy.

"I returned to the UK in 2017, founded Dynisma specifically to make motion generator technologies more accessible and increase the capabilities of what’s available on the market," Warne tells Auto Futures.

Its first product was a simulator named DMG-1 (Dynisma Motion Generator 1). Its simulators can accurately replicate real-world car dynamics.

It supplies both motorsport teams and automotive manufacturers with its technology.

"Being able to offer the most life-like experience is crucial. For example, if you have a latency of 50 milliseconds or more, you are increasing the reaction time of the driver significantly, which in the context of an elite athlete, or even the world’s best OEM test drivers, is ludicrous. There's no other driver or athlete training where you would tolerate forcing their performance to be affected by such a huge margin percent worse in training," he says.

The company's DMG technology can also put vibrations and movements through its platform that contain more information than other simulators. 

"Existing real-time vehicle models deliver meaningful ride content at frequencies above the limit of traditional motion platforms, and as computational power increases we anticipate further developments in this area. Dynisma’s DMG Motion Generators can deliver this high frequency motion content to the driver for them to assess and respond to these vehicle motions."

"This enables accurate assessments of the ride and Noise Vibration Harshness (NVH) performance of virtual vehicles to be made early in the development phase, enabling better vehicles to be developed in shorter times, and at lower costs," he adds.

Vehicles are changing, and the Human-Machine-Interface is changing even faster, Warne tells us.

"The effectiveness of these new interfaces and the features they are controlling is of paramount importance to customer satisfaction. Using Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulation technology, the vehicle Human Machine Interface (HMI) can be tested and optimised as early as possible. The high bandwidth and high fidelity ensure the correct level of driver attention and distraction to give better judgments about aspects such as different vehicle driving modes."

Enhancing Early Performance Development

Simulation technology can also be used to make motorsport become more sustainable..

"Almost 75% of motorsport sector emissions come from logistics. Reducing travel is key – and much of the non-essential travel outside of races comes from real-world testing," explains Warne.

Previously, drivers felt commercially available motion simulators were not advanced or accurate enough to replace real world testing.

"High-end, realistic simulators need to be available and accessible to all levels of motorsport. And to create the most accurate and immersive driving simulator, the motion system, visuals, circuit models and vehicle model, all must be of the same high standard. If any one of these isn’t, accuracy and immersion suffers, resulting in poor or unusable data and even motion sickness in drivers due to the latency of motion."

"Our DMG technology could be a game changer, enabling other forms of motorsport to follow F1 in drastically reducing test days, helping the entire industry to become more sustainable, achieving its Net Zero goals. And without sacrificing a tenth of a second off lap times either," he adds.

Dynisma was recently announced as McLaren Automotive’s official motion simulator partner. McLaren was looking for a solution that allowed it to significantly enhance its early performance development.

"With the lowest latency and highest bandwidth, our technology offers an unrivalled level of realism that allows more efficient and sustainable testing across a host of key areas, including vehicle dynamics and aerodynamics, propulsion systems, Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH), control systems and Human Machine Interface (HMI), User Experience (UX) and ergonomics. The simulator will be installed at McLaren’s Technology Centre later this year." 

Testing in Safe Conditions

In September 2023, the company opened its new state-of-the-art Dynisma Technology Campus, a 15,000 square foot hub that hosts the Dynisma Manufacturing Centre, which enables the development and build of its simulators.

"Huge interest in simulators has seen us secure multiple international supply agreements with well-known global brands, such as McLaren Automotive, create over 60 new roles in the last two years and launch a major graduate and internship programme. Our plans are to expand our footprint and headcount at this site," says Warne.

Finally, we asked him what will driving simulation look like in the future.

"So far, we’ve barely scratched the surface of the capabilities of our technology. We’re finding that, because of its low latency, high bandwidth and high fidelity – simply the fact that it’s as close to reality as possible – DMG can support OEMs across more developmental disciplines than we ever imagined," he says.

"OEMs are coming under increasing pressure, both from legislation and from consumer demand, for more ADAS technology. This demands extensive development, not least for exhaustive and affordable scenario testing. Our simulation technology provides the perfect environment to conduct experiments involving intervention of systems such as collision warning and collision avoidance, providing engineers the ability to test with perfect repeatability and fine control over all parameters, under safe conditions."

"In terms of driving simulation itself, we are constantly working to improve our systems and together with our software and visual partners, we can build on what we’ve achieved so far to offer a system that is closer than ever to reality," concludes Warne.