Autonomous cars could make you sick
Study suggests greater risk of that woozy feeling
Could riding in an autonomous car make you ill?
“Possibly, yes,” is the answer from a study by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, in one of its three new reports on potential impacts of this onrushing technology.
The culprit? Motion sickness, as caused by some of the very features touted as advantages of autonomous or “self-driving” vehicles — fancy swivelling seats, side-mounted touch screens and slick designs with narrow windows, as well as the freedom to work, read or play online games.
Autonomous vehicles elevate the main causes of motion sickness — conflict between what the human body feels and sees, and inability to either anticipate or control the direction of motion, say the report’s authors, Michael Spivak and Brandon Schoettle.
Just how severe that effect would be depends on what the car’s occupants are doing while the vehicle’s computers, cameras and sensors guide them from A to B.
Those in the front seats would probably get nausea and vertigo with their seats swung around to chat with those in back.
Watching TV, texting, working on a laptop or playing online games would make matters worse, especially with a downward gaze and facing toward the side or back of the car.
On the other hand, sleeping, especially lying flat, would reduce symptoms.
Much of this is already true for passengers.
But, Sivak notes, light-duty vehicles in the U.S. average 1.4 occupants, including the driver. So an autonomous vehicle would greatly increase the number who could participate in activities that promote motion sickness.
The risk also seems to depend on where you live. It could be especially high in India and China, judging by a previous study by the authors, who asked 3,255 people in those countries, as well as the United States, Britain, Japan and Australia, whether they’d ride in a self-driving car and, if they would, what they’d do.
Respondents in India and China were by far the most open to autonomous vehicles and to activities that promote motion sickness.
Those in Japan were most likely to say they wouldn’t ride in an autonomous car. Brits and Australians would, by a wide margin, be most likely to keep watching the road.
Such caution might be reasonable, judging by the institute’s second report.
Although self-driving vehicles boast split-second reaction times, are never distracted and wouldn’t take risks, the report cautions: “The expectation of zero fatalities . . . is not realistic. It is not a foregone conclusion that a self-driving vehicle would ever perform more safely than an experienced, middleaged driver.”
The report further notes that “during the transition period when conventional and self-driving vehicles would share the road, safety might actually worsen, at least for the conventional vehicles.”
The third study concludes that self-driving would let typical families cut the number of cars they own, from the current average of 2.1 down to 1.2.
That is because these vehicles would be able to “return home” after taking one family member to a destination, ready to be of service to another.
For example, the car might carry Person A to work in the morning, return to take Person B on errands during the day, then go back to the workplace to bring Person A home for dinner.
This could mean, too, that each vehicle would spend far more time on the road. More efficient use could also reduce vehicle life expectancy.
Although not part of this study, it has been speculated that autonomous vehicles would be ideal for car-sharing programs.
Participants simply order a car, which would drive itself to pick them up: No need to trudge to the car-sharing location.
At a preview of the Mercedes-Benz F 015 autonomous car in San Francisco, company futurist Alexander Mankowsky said drivers are too wedded to having their vehicle, with their own stuff inside, to make car sharing popular.
I think that while car sales will be lower, car sharing would work just fine.
The report’s authors say autonomous vehicles elevate the main causes of motion sickness — conflict between what the human body feels and sees, and inability to either anticipate or control the direction of motion