Car News

Self-Driving Cars Might Make You Sick

From a technological perspective, the future of autonomous vehicles is promising, but there are a few basic human obstacles, like making you car sick.

Six to twelve percent of American adults will experience moderate to severe motion sickness while riding in a driver-less cars, says the report published by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. And for the largest portion of those people it will most likely happen while they are in the car, according to USA Today.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Brandon Schoettle” author_title=”Project Manager at University of Michigan”]

By switching from driver to passenger, by definition, one gives up control over the direction of motion, and there are no remedies for this.

[/quote]

The car sickness happens for three reasons: conflict between vestibular system located in inner ear and visual inputs, an inability to anticipate the direction of motion and lack of control over the direction of motion. These three factors tend to be raised in self-driving vehicles.

According to Forbes, the frequency and severity suffered depends on what an occupant is doing at the time of the driving. Those who are reading, watching movies or texting while the self-driving vehicle is in motion should suffer the most motion sickness, while those who keep their eyes on the road and are likely to endure the least amount of discomfort.

However automakers can design the self-driving cars in a way that will reduce the discomfort and car sickness by installing large windows in order to maximize the occupant’s field of view and orientate the seats so that riders are facing forward. Alternately, people prone to car sickness can always take anti-nausea medications prior to riding on a self-driving vehicle.

The self-driving vehicles may not be ideal at the moment but they could probably mean the safer traffic in the future. Recently on Immortal News, we covered a story about fatal car accident. Bruce Jenner may have been texting before the fatal crash, police said in a report. Texting while driving is very dangerous, so if you plan on doing so, make sure you are in a self-driven vehicle.

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