”More safety on the roads!”

As the success of the automobile spread in Switzerland, Migros Club Schools began to offer driving lessons on the Drivotrainer. This system, developed by an American insurance company, enabled learners to practice their driving in a safe classroom environment, using a driving simulation that included a film projection.

”The most modern driving school in the whole of Switzerland“, promises Migros in 1963. For this Club School offer, Migros has even acquired shares in an international company which wants to distribute the American Drivotrainer in Europe. The training equipment, invented by the insurance Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, is aimed at reducing the number of road accidents.
The simulation system offers the driving school pupils a driver's cab with steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals and even a gear stick. Just as in a real car, they drive through a course which is projected on to a screen. All the driving manoeuvres carried out are recorded by an electronic system for later discussion with the driving instructor. This enables, according to the Migros Club School, driving training ”without dangering other road users on the open streets“ and thus offers a valuable contribution ”to the fight against ’road deaths‘”.
Two years later, the Migros Club School operates five such installations: In Zurich, Bern, St. Gallen, Lucerne and Geneva, they have special pavilions constructed particularly for the Drivotrainer. From 1965 onwards, a wide-screen colour film projection, showing a journey through the city of Zurich, is offered. How long these virtual driving schools were in operation is no longer known.