Technology house Exail and the French Gendarmerie have validated the acceptance and commissioning of the driving simulator for the Gendarmerie’s new Centaure Multi-Purpose Intervention Vehicle (VIGP), Exail announced on 17 October 2023.
The simulator was designed and manufactured by Exail under a contract awarded back in October 2022 by the French Interior Ministry’s Purchasing, Innovation and Logistics Department (SAILMI). Delivered to the Armoured Mobile Gendarmerie Group (GBGM) at Versailles-Satory, the simulator includes three driving stations and an instructor station. It will be used for the high-volume training of future drivers.
The Exail driving simulator meets the French Gendarmerie objectives in terms of mobility, manoeuvrability and the safety of the vehicle and its occupants in a wide variety of urban and rural environments, both in France and overseas.
The training provided on the simulator includes a guided learning approach designed specifically for driving the Centaure and a system to edit driving scenarios dedicated to the new vehicle, enabling them to be reproduced within an operational context.
“The new Centaure armoured vehicles replace the Gendarmerie’s wheeled armoured vehicles (VBRG), which have been in service since 1974. The Gendarmerie therefore needed a modern training tool, representative of the new vehicle’s performance and incorporating the technology associated with the new onboard systems,” Charles Le Bot, head of the Simulation business line at Exail, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “Simulators are therefore an ideal tool for learning about a new-generation vehicle like the Centaure. Our technological solutions enable operational crews to master the driving and digital functions of the vehicle and its onboard systems.”
Exail was formed in 2022 when ECA Group merged with iXblue.
