Let's set the scene, you’re driving through the streets of Nashville in an expensive sports car, you race to make the traffic lights but the car in front has slowed to a stop. You're too late
BANG!! You’ve crashed. You're fine, though. You’ve just experienced CrashLabs, the new immersive driving simulator from Xtract.
Xtract has been collecting data from real vehicle crashes for years, to better understand the forces at play, the speed, and the impacts. But, as CEO, Michael Flanagan points out, collecting real crash data “wasn’t practical.” It’s expensive, dangerous, and doesn’t offer a repeatable way to demonstrate what Xtract could do.
That’s when the idea of a simulator began to take shape. Xtract engineer (Charlie Cooke) had been experimenting with extracting telematics data from driving video games and thought, “what if we could turn this into something real and present it in Xtract?” At first, it was a fun side project, using a simulator to drive around maps and see how data from connected vehicles could be used in a game-like environment. But as the team dug deeper, they realized, this could be a way to show the world what Xtract could do in a way that was both insightful and exciting.
Stepping into the CrashLabs simulator, you’re immediately immersed. The driver seat is surrounded by several 4K screens, the steering wheel rumbles with every movement, and the seat adjusts to the motions of the vehicle, giving you the sensation of actually being on the road. “ It’s scary real,” says Micheal, recalling his first time in the simulator. You drive through the streets, testing the vehicle’s response to every turn, feeling the vibrations in your hands as you go faster and then, a crash happens, and within seconds, everything is reconstructed on a massive screen beside you.
CrashLabs made its debut at Guidewire Connections at Nashville, USA in November. With so much going on at these types of events, catching people’s attention isn’t easy. But CrashLabs didn’t just stand out, it pulled people in. The simulator was eye-catching, but the real magic happened after the crash. Within seconds, participants saw a full reconstruction of their accident showing key details like speed, impact force, their route, and even their facial expressions of the moment of impact from a dashcam.
Creating a system like CrashLabs wasn’t easy. Demonstrating the full power of Xtract meant CrashLabs had to feel as real as possible. It took a great team and much experimenting but in the end the results speak for themselves. “We were testing this remotely and not knowing if it would work,” Michael remembers. We had to work with a team halfway across the globe and while on a video call talk them through how to load our CrashLabs software onto the simulator to make sure everything synced up. It was challenging, but when it worked, it clicked into place.
The result is a driving simulator that’s on par with any you’d find in a high-end gaming simulator. It’s not just about seeing a crash; it’s about feeling it in a way that’s tangible, real, and immediate. When you step out of the simulator, the data is waiting for you, instantly.
CrashLabs is about showing people the real power behind the data Xtract uses. It's one thing to talk about crash reconstruction in theory, but it’s another to experience it firsthand. As Michael sees it, “This isn’t just a fun experience; it’s a glimpse into the future of what data can do in an accident situation.”
