If you tend to get a little queasy when attempting to read, work or even play handheld games as a passenger while traveling, you aren't alone. This motion sickness is a result of the disconnect between what your eyes are processing and what your body is feeling.
When you're driving a vehicle, this is generally not a problem. However, if the future is indeed going to be one of autonomous vehicles, this issue will likely only become more prevalent.
That said, an end to our car sickness woes could finally be in sight if a patent filed by ride-hailing company Uber is anything to go by. The patent details the functionality of Uber's "Sensory Stimulation System," a system that could decrease (or eliminate) nausea for passengers of autonomous vehicles.
The system will supposedly be able to blow air at passengers, move their seats and even use a "lightbar" to display colored lights at various brightness levels during the course of a trip. The car will adjust these sensory effects automatically to fit the vehicle's direction and speed.
Though this system may seem strange to some, one experimental brain research study found that exposure to airflow alone can drastically reduce the nausea that results from "car sickness," meaning Uber could be on the right track.
Whether or not Uber can make this system a reality anytime soon remains to be seen. Regardless, the company is clearly eager to usher in the self-driving future as evident by their upcoming acquisition of around 24,000 self-driving Volvo SUVs.
https://www.techspot.com/news/71980-uber-files-patent-reduce-motion-sickness-autonomous-vehicle.html
