VW Working on Ways to Keep You From Vomiting in Autonomous Cars

Autonomous cars, say automakers, represent a future free from the hideous responsibilities of driving and the stress of commuting. But all that if for nought if you can’t keep you can’t stand to be in the damn things. THat’s why Volkswagen is working on ways to keep you from upchucking in autonomous cars.

Car and Driver reports that among the solutions VW is trying, are moving seats and a strip of LED lights designed to help you anticipate the car’s movements. The theory there is that is, say, green lights give you a hint of when the car will accelerate, its actions won’t be a mystery to the passenger. And drivers tend not to get carsick because they can anticipate the car’s movements, this should help keep you from throwing up on your supposedly relaxing trip.

To test the systems, a group of brave souls has the unenviable task of being driven around in cars wearing skin-temperature and heart-rate monitors to see how sick they get in 20 minutes of stop-and-go movement.

Luckily, some of them get to watch videos while they’re in the car to mimic the future VW envisions, in which video can dominate your commute along with your couch time. And your work time. And your before-bed time. And your toilet time. And that time between when you’re awake and you’re ready to get out of bed.

Unfortunately for the test subjects, VW isn’t letting them watch anything as emotionally affecting as a movie. The subjects have to, instead, watch a video feed of a fish tank to keep dirty emotions from impacting clean data.

Volkswagen is the first to say that they haven’t quite found a solution yet. Instead, they’re investigating the topic—which, all kidding aside, I would love to see succeed as someone who wishes they could read in the car without ralphing.

For the time being, though, I’ll have to settle for Citroën’s hideous anti-emesis glasses.

[via: Car and Driver]

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