Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Driverless cars could potentially be safer, and will likely cut down on the stresses of driving in rush hour traffic and on superhighways, but those benefits may come with a price, according to a new survey from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.
As it turns out, being free from the responsibilities of operating a motor vehicle could lead to an increase in motion sickness due to the other activities that ex-drivers decide to do while their cars or trucks automatically ferry them to work, school, the movie theater, or the gym.
Make sure you bring your barf bags
In the study, UM researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle asked over 3,200 adults from the US, the UK, India, China, and Japan what they planned to do in an autonomous motor vehicle since they no longer had to worry about making lane changes or adhering to the speed limit.
According to Engadget, some of the primary responses they received indicated that people would be reading, testing, watching television, playing games, or working while their car did the driving for them. Each of those activities, Sivak and Schoettle explained, can cause intense dizziness and nausea while in a moving vehicle, meaning that you might want to take precautions.
“Motion sickness is expected to be more of an issue in self-driving vehicles than in conventional vehicles,” said Sivak, explaining that the three primary factors contributing to the condition, “conflict between vestibular (balance) and visual inputs, inability to anticipate the direction of motion, and lack of control over the direction of motion,” are elevated in driverless cars.
Ways to combat the barf
He added, “The frequency and severity of motion sickness is influenced by the activity that one would be involved in instead of driving,” and that between six and 12 percent of American adults would be expected to experience moderate-to-severe motion sickness at some point.
Similar percentages would also apply to residents of the UK, India, China, Japan, and Australia, the researchers added. On the flip side, their report found that over 60 percent of people in the US (and similar percentages elsewhere) would watch the road, talk on the phone, or sleep while their car was operating. Those activities would not necessarily lead to motion sickness.
Thus, as Engadget said, “The best way to combat car sickness, then, is to use your travel time to talk to fellow passengers, or to rest, relax, and take a nap.” For those who participate in activities that could result in nausea, however, the study authors suggest equipping the cars with oversized windows, forward-facing displays and seats that recline but do not swivel.
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