Compared with traditional cars, people can do some of their own things in self-driving cars, such as reading books and watching movies. This is one of the advantages of self-driving cars. However, many people may get motion sickness while reading or watching movies in the car. At this time, the advantages of self-driving cars will not be reflected.
Researchers from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found through surveys that 6%-12% of adults are prone to motion sickness when riding in self-driving cars, and more than half of adults read books in self-driving cars. Feel uncomfortable sometimes. After such problems occurred, more and more people began to pay attention to the problem of motion sickness when passengers ride in self-driving cars.
Last year, Uber developed a sensory stimulation system for self-driving cars. It wanted to use in-car light strips, sound prompts, air-conditioning airflow and seat vibrations to prevent people from irritating themselves when riding in self-driving cars. Motion sickness. Recently, the academic group also launched an anti-motion sickness system to address this problem and applied for a patent.
The patent was filed by Professor Michael Sivak and Professor Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. They began studying the problem of preventing motion sickness in self-driving cars a few years ago. Sivak said it is more likely to get motion sickness in a self-driving car than in a conventional car.
The main cause of motion sickness is that there is a conflict between the vestibular system and vision of the human brain. The brain cannot predict the direction of the vehicle. When the direction of movement of the vehicle changes, the brain lacks self-regulation. Different driving habits of drivers can also cause motion sickness, and reading and watching movies in self-driving cars can aggravate motion sickness symptoms.
These two professors launched an anti-motion sickness system based on the main causes of motion sickness in humans. The main principle is to provide weak optical stimulation within people's visual range to simply simulate the environment outside the car. , thereby eliminating the conflict between the vestibular system and vision. Currently, the patent for this system has been approved.
In fact, there are similar inventions now, such as showing road conditions through in-car screens, but people still get motion sickness when they are not looking at the screen. So they proposed two anti-motion sickness devices, one is a wearable device similar to glasses, and the other is a light strip installed in the car.
(Pictures from patent documents)
After wearing these glasses, it will simulate the main environment, buildings and horizon outside the car through weak optical stimulation.
(Pictures from patent documents)
Specifically, there are many light source arrays on the glasses. When the vehicle is driving forward, the light source array will give you a backward direction. Visual perception, or when the vehicle turns right, the light source array on the right will move slower than the light source array on the left. Because the movement of objects is relative, you will feel the vehicle moving forward or turning to the right.
Not only plane movement, the light source array can also allow you to feel changes in driving status in other dimensions, such as acceleration and deceleration or uphill and downhill.
(Picture from patent document)
In addition to wearable devices, they also proposed a solution similar to Uber, which is to install light strips in the car. By changing the color and brightness of the light strip, passengers in the car can know the current driving status of the vehicle.
At present, this patent is only on paper and is in the conceptual stage, so we don’t know yet how effective it is in preventing people from motion sickness in self-driving cars. However, the University of Michigan is already in contact with car companies and suppliers, hoping to commercialize this technology.
Imagine sitting in a self-driving car in the future, surrounded by marquees...
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