JLR fights motion sickness with autonomous car tech

Motion sickness happens when the eye observes information that conflicts with what the inner ear, skin or body senses – when reading during long car journeys, for example. The condition can reportedly affect more than 70% of people.

That could be a major issue for autonomous vehicles, as occupants are expected to take advantage of hands-free travelling by reading, watching screens or working.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has set out to tackle the problem with new autonomous software, designed to reduce motion sickness by adapting vehicle driving style.

First, the company developed a personalised ‘wellness score’. Experts at JLR’s specialist software engineering facility in Shannon, Ireland, then implemented that score into self-driving software, which combines 20,000 real-world and virtually-simulated test miles to calculate a set of parameters for driving dynamics to be rated against. Advanced machine learning then ensures the car can optimise its driving style based on that data.

Using the new system, acceleration, braking and lane positioning – all contributory factors to motion sickness – can be optimised to avoid inducing nausea in passengers.

JLR will use the technology to ‘teach’ its cars to drive autonomously while maintaining individual model characteristics.  

“Mobility is rapidly changing, and we will need to harness the power of self-driving vehicles to achieve our goal of zero accidents and zero congestion,” said Dr Steve Iley, JLR chief medical officer. “Solving the problem of motion sickness in driverless cars is the key to unlocking the huge potential of this technology for passengers, who will be able to use the travelling time for reading, working or relaxing.”

Engineers are using the technology to refine advanced driver-assistance systems such as adaptive cruise control and lane monitoring systems.

Other features such as cooling seats, ambient lighting and multiple seat configurations are also reportedly proven to significantly reduce the likelihood of motion sickness. Adaptive dynamics systems in JLR cars alter ride settings every 10 milliseconds, removing low frequency motion from the road and helping prevent nausea.

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