Motion sickness affects over 70% of car occupants, humans and animals. It is nothing to be ashamed about, as very little research has ever been carried out on the subject and the causes and remedies vary wildly. Yet, it may intrigue you to know that Jaguar Land Rover employs a wellness technology researcher by the name of Spencer Salter, whom has been collecting data and assisting in the research related to car sickness.
Through the car firm’s industry-leading motion sickness research, an algorithm has been formulated that generates a ‘wellness score’ for each passenger (it is more difficult to obtain responses from animals). The algorithm can be used to personalise a vehicle’s driving automatically and to adjust cabin settings, to reduce the effects of feeling car sick by up to 60%.
Jaguar Land Rover has already collected 15,000 miles of motion sickness data and tested the effects caused by performing a task while in transit, such as checking emails online, or reading an electronic device positioned in one’s lap. This has enabled the creation of a baseline driving style for self-driving vehicles to work towards, minimising the need for steering corrections and therefore the risk of motion sickness, while passengers work, or relax.
As Mr Salter explained: “As we move towards an autonomous future, where occupants will have more time to either work, read, or relax on longer journeys, it's important that we develop vehicles that can adapt to reduce the effects of motion sickness in a way that's tailored to each passenger.”
The feeling of illness is often caused, when the eyes observe information that is different from what is sensed by the inner ear, skin, or body forces and it tends to occur most commonly when reading…hence the earlier comment about navigating, or reading maps, especially in fine detail. The ‘wellness score’ calculates how susceptible individual drivers and passengers are to feeling car sick, using biometric sensors that record physiological signals. Combining this with motion and dynamics data, the vehicle will know reliably when a passenger, or driver (bearing in mind that in an autonomous situation, the driver IS a passenger), is becoming motion sick, before they do.
Dr. Steve Iley, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Medical Officer, explained: “This cutting-edge research has created a solution that, with its solid scientific foundation, can make travelling enjoyable, regardless of one’s susceptibility to motion sickness. As a parent of young children, who tend to be more susceptible to car sickness, I am particularly excited by the benefits this research can have in making long journeys comfortable and stress-free for families.”
Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles are already designed to help combat feelings of nausea. In fact, a few years ago, when the Discovery model featured semi-active damping, the lack of pitch and body-roll proved to be exceedingly calming, even for those people professing to suffer from motion sickness. The latest Jaguar E-PACE, for example, has 26 different seat configurations for passengers to find a position that raises the infotainment screen relative to eye level, as well as turning on the cooling seat function, as core temperature reduction also plays a part. Both factors have been proven to reduce significantly the onset of motion sickness. The E-PACE’s Adaptive Dynamics also remove low frequency motion from the road, which can lead to nausea, by altering the ride settings every 10-milliseconds to ensure passengers experience invariably higher levels of comfort.
The first phase of the research completes in November. The findings are already being implemented into further projects to ensure that Jaguar Land Rover can create the ultimate personalised cabin experience for each of its customers in future vehicles. While little can be done for the illness-prone family pet, enabling them to see what is happening outside the vehicle can help. While restraining a pet is a legal requirement, positioning them on a booster cushion may provide a solution. Naturally, feeding them just prior to a trip in the car, a factor that is equally applicable to humans, may not be the answer!
