JLR Aims to Put Motion Sickness to Rest

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd. says it is developing technologies to detect and alleviate motion sickness in vehicles.

As many as 70% of travelers are affected by some form of motion sickness, JLR claims. But the carmaker says little has been known about what causes the condition or how to mitigate it.

Based on findings from evaluating motion-sickness data collected over 15,000 miles of travel, JLR has developed an algorithm that generates a “wellness score” for each occupant in a vehicle. The score calculates how susceptible a person is to feeling car sick, combining real-time driving data with physiological signals recorded by biometric sensors.

Based on the scores, various vehicle features—such as seating position, suspension, steering, HVAC and infotainment settings—can be automatically adjusted to adapt to individual needs. JLR estimates such actions can reduce the effects of feeling car sick by as much as 60%.

Motion sickness is often caused when the eyes observe information that is different from what is sensed by the inner ear, skin or body movements. Some of the main triggers are reading and viewing display screens from offset seating positions, according to JLR.

Future self-driving vehicles with flexible seating configurations—occupants facing sideways or backwards—could increase the likelihood of car sickness. That is especially true for autonomous vehicles, because its occupants would be more likely to read or watch videos.

Some current Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles are designed to help combat feelings of nausea. The new Jaguar E-Pace, for example, has 26 different seat configurations for passengers to find a position that optimizes their eye level relative to infotainment screens. JLR says in-seat cooling systems also can reduce the likelihood of motion sickness.