New technology helps combat motion sickness on car journeys

Few weekends send more people on long car journeys than Memorial Day Weekend, with AAA estimating as many as 39 million people hitting the road this year. But unfortunately, motion sickness could make those trips uncomfortable and unpleasant for many people.

Engineers at the University of Michigan have developed a new technology, ready for implementation in current vehicles, that reduces motion sickness by nearly half. For the 1 out of every 2 children and 1 in 3 adults who suffer from the condition, it’s an option that comes without the drowsiness of medications.

U-M’s approach focuses on the cause of motion sickness—vehicle movements that catch passengers off-guard when they aren’t watching the road ahead. Called PREACT, the technology sends cues through the seat to alert those passengers to upcoming movements. It can also tilt the seat to mimic the way the body would naturally prepare for turning and braking if the passenger’s eyes were on the road to see what was coming.

We call it PREACT because it predicts the motions of the vehicle and acts preemptively to counteract the effect of the vehicle’s motion on the passenger's body. We take real-time and historical data from on-vehicle sensors to help anticipate the vehicle’s impending motions and use that to alert passengers to what’s coming.”

Shorya Awtar, U-M professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Precision Systems Design Laboratory

Following five years of research, technology innovations and extensive human testing, PREACT is now making its way toward real-world implementation.

In March, Awtar and Daniel Sousa Schulman, a doctoral candidate and PREACT’s chief engineer, worked with U-M’s Innovation Partnerships to found Motion Sync, a high-tech startup seeking to commercialize the technology. Motion Sync has begun working with a major auto manufacturer—a partnership designed to explore and demonstrate PREACT’s viability for the automaker’s vehicles.

One version of the technology makes use of automatically tilting seats or tightening seat belts to prepare passengers for upcoming maneuvers. Such active seats and seatbelts would be integrated within the vehicle platform.

Another version of the PREACT technology can be retrofitted on any existing vehicle. In this case, PREACT sends haptic cues to passengers in advance of turns, acceleration and braking so that they aren’t caught off-guard by their vehicle’s movements. A buzzing on the left side of the seat warns the occupant to prepare for a left turn, for instance.

Schulman, Motion Sync’s CEO, said the retrofit haptic version adds only a few pounds to a vehicle, requires minimal power and comes at a low cost.

“Users will be able to choose whatever PREACT version works best for their needs, an integrated version vs. a retrofit version,” he said. “This will make PREACT affordable and accessible to a wide range of customers.”

PREACT’s research team tested the technology with over 150 human subjects at Mcity, using specially designed test vehicles operating on test tracks that simulate both city and highway driving. Results showed a statistically significant reduction in the subjects’ feelings of motion sickness, with 80% saying it’s a technology they would want included with their next vehicle purchase.

PREACT would work in today’s human-driven vehicles, including electric and hybrid. Both charge batteries through regenerative braking, but this more aggressive deceleration leads to increases in motion sickness.

And, just like ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft, PREACT could help autonomous vehicles deliver on their promise of turning commutes and longer journeys into work or leisure time, enabling passengers to take their eyes off the road without experiencing motion sickness.

“There are big questions out there: ‘Will users trust these autonomous vehicles or will there be a level of discomfort for people in these vehicles?'” Awtar said. “It’s vitally important we take into account the human factors associated with this if it’s to become the standard mode for transportation. Motion Sync is tackling some of these challenges and plans to have PREACT available to consumers in the near future.”

The research was partially funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Center for Connected and Automated Transportation and Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization for Advanced Transportation Innovation Hub.