Questions related to reliability, cyber-safety, ethics or accountability in case of an accident, will have to be answered in a short amount of time7. Nevertheless, there are more operational questions that will rise, like safety and comfort in case the driver gets the control of the vehicle back, in a level 3 SAE8 or motion sickness on a level 5 SAE9 vehicle. Let’s focus on this last issue.
When I was a child, on the curved mountain roads, it was certain that after 15 minutes on the back seat of the car my lunch would make its way out. Growing up and driving on the same curved roads I’ve never suffered of motion sickness again. I don’t see myself on that back seat ever again, however that will happen with an AV.
Once the driver is no longer necessary it becomes just a passenger and easily susceptible to motion sickness10. Why? Because a driver can predict the movement of the car, but a passenger can’t.
And who has never, as a child, tried to read a book on the back seat? Or more recently read an article on the smartphone?
The automation of vehicles will allow the drivers to perform tasks that are not road related. With the use of AV nothing will be required from a driver and one can perform several different activities. With the driver becoming a passenger that are able to look at a book or smartphone it will be easier to lose perception of movement felt by the body and a static image seen by the eyes. This conflict will potentiate motion sickness7,11.
These vehicles can’t be seen as leaving rooms, offices or lounge areas with wheals7. In the future, some product changes will be required in order to avoid these issues and make the user aware. Several tests, either in a simulator or with real vehicles, are being developed to identify an acceptable solution for this problem.