Future cars will know you're sick before you feel it, to stop motion sickness early
Pioneering Jaguar Land Rover motion sickness research has identified techniques to reduce effects by at least 60 percent.
Vehicle dynamics and cabin settings will automatically adapt to individuals’ needs and prevent sickness.
A complex algorithm calculates individual ‘wellness scores’ for driver and passengers.
At Jaguar Land Rover, we have pointed our considerable research and development resources at tackling a problem that affects 70 percent of road users – motion sickness. As a result a new system has been created to tackle the issue, which will mean future cars negate sickness for drivers and passengers alike.
Industry-leading motion sickness research has led to 15,000 miles of motion sickness data being collated. The heroic work of those involved has led to a measure called a wellness score. Using this, a car can adapt its driving system and cabin settings to reduce car sickness by up to 60 percent. The car is able to track a person's wellness score by using biometric sensors to record the physiological signals being let off by the body. This information is then combined with motion and dynamics information to work out when a person will feel sick – even before they realise it's going to happen. That way the car can make the necessary adaptations to ensure that sick feeling doesn't arrive.
Dr. Steve Iley, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Medical Officer, explains: "This cutting-edge research has created a solution that, with its solid scientific foundation, can make travelling enjoyable, regardless of your susceptibility to motion sickness. As a parent of young children, who are most 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."
Spencer Salter, Wellness Technology Researcher at Jaguar Land Rover, says: "Little has been known about the causes and how to mitigate them. 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 we develop vehicles that can adapt to reduce the effects of motion sickness in a way that's tailored to each passenger.”
AS A PARENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN, WHO ARE MOST 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
Dr. Steve Iley,
Jaguar Land Rover Chief Medical Officer
Motion sickness is often caused when the eyes observe information that is different to that which is sensed by the inner ear, skin or body forces. This happens very commonly when reading. Future autonomous cars will make the ability to work and enjoy entertainment while in transit far easier. Since it's usually while reading that car sickness occurs, Jaguar Land Rover's research now will prove invaluable in the years to come. That future isn't so far away as the current Jaguar E-PACE is already pioneering lots of the technologies that allows the wellness core anti-sickness systems to work.
The E-PACE has 26 seat configurations which can be used, in conjunction with the cooling system, to ensure eye-line with the infotainment screen and temperature are ideal to avoid car sickness. This can be combined with the car's adaptive dynamics to remove low frequency motion from the road by altering the settings every 10-milliseconds. This pioneering research is just a part of what is to come with Jaguar Land Rover working on creating the ultimate personalised cabin experience for future vehicles.
Explore the Jaguar E-PACE for yourself HERE
