Scientists give mind-blowing explanation about people feeling car sick in EVs
Anticipating the movement of a vehicle is key to avoiding motion sickness, which is why drivers, who should always be able to see what is coming, are less likely to feel sick than passengers
Researchers have provided an answer to a baffling phenomenon affecting swathes of electric vehicle (EV) drivers.
Increasing numbers of motorists and passengers are experiencing motion sickness while travelling in EVs, sparking scientists to explore what's exactly making these zero-emission rides so stomach-churning. Social media is filled with anecdotes from passengers who have felt sick in the back seat of EVs, as well as questions from potential buyers put off by this potential puking problem.
The scientific explanation is rooted in how our brains process motion cues. William Emond, a PhD student researching car sickness at the Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard in France, told the Guardian: "Greater sickness in EVs can be attributed to a lack of previous experience, as both a driver and as a passenger, where the brain lacks accuracy in estimating the motion forces because it relies on previous experience in other types of cars.
"If we are accustomed to traveling in non-EVs, we are used to understanding the car's motion based on signals such as engine revs, engine vibrations, torque, etc. Yet, traveling in an EV for the first time is a new motion environment for the brain, which needs adaptation."
So people who have spent most of their lives getting from A to B in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are far more accustomed to anticipating acceleration and deceleration based on engine noise and vibration, cues that are largely absent in EVs. Research supports the idea that specific features of electric vehicles contribute to motion sickness.
For example, a 2024 study carried out by the University of Wisconsin—Madison found strong correlations between the severity of motion sickness and the seat vibrations in electric vehicles. While research from 2020 published in ScienceDirect pointed to the lack of engine sound as a major factor causing people in EVs to feel car sick.
The absence of these familiar cues leads to a sensory mismatch, where the signals from the eyes, inner ear and body don't align with what the brain is expecting. This is a well-known cause of motion sickness.
Another factor is regenerative braking, a technology common in EVS that converts the car's kinetic energy into electricity during deceleration. This process results in low-frequency deceleration, meaning the vehicle slows down gradually and steadily rather than in quick pulses.
Studies have shown that this type of braking is also linked to higher levels of motion sickness. A 2024 study published in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction concluded: "Our results confirmed that higher levels of RB [regenerative braking] can induce MS [motion sickness]."
Anticipating the movement of a vehicle is key to avoiding motion sickness, which is why drivers, who should always be able to see what is coming, are less likely to feel sick than passengers. The lack of familiar cues in EVs means passengers, especially those in the back seat, are more likely to feel car sick.
With EV ownership on the rise, researchers are exploring solutions to this 'sickening' situation. Some suggest that using visual signals, such as interactive screens and ambient lighting, as well as vibrational cues, could help passengers anticipate motion changes and reduce the likelihood of feeling sick in EVS.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Scientists give mind-blowing explanation about people feeling car sick in EVs
Anticipating the movement of a vehicle is key to avoiding motion sickness, which is why drivers, who should always be able to see what is coming, are less likely to feel sick than passengers Researchers have provided an answer to a baffling phenomenon affecting swathes of electric vehicle (EV) drivers. Increasing numbers of motorists and passengers are experiencing motion sickness while travelling in EVs, sparking scientists to explore what's exactly making these zero-emission rides so stomach-churning. Social media is filled with anecdotes from passengers who have felt sick in the back seat of EVs, as well as questions from potential buyers put off by this potential puking problem. The scientific explanation is rooted in how our brains process motion cues. William Emond, a PhD student researching car sickness at the Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard in France, told the Guardian: "Greater sickness in EVs can be attributed to a lack of previous experience, as both a driver and as a passenger, where the brain lacks accuracy in estimating the motion forces because it relies on previous experience in other types of cars. "If we are accustomed to traveling in non-EVs, we are used to understanding the car's motion based on signals such as engine revs, engine vibrations, torque, etc. Yet, traveling in an EV for the first time is a new motion environment for the brain, which needs adaptation." So people who have spent most of their lives getting from A to B in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are far more accustomed to anticipating acceleration and deceleration based on engine noise and vibration, cues that are largely absent in EVs. Research supports the idea that specific features of electric vehicles contribute to motion sickness. For example, a 2024 study carried out by the University of Wisconsin—Madison found strong correlations between the severity of motion sickness and the seat vibrations in electric vehicles. While research from 2020 published in ScienceDirect pointed to the lack of engine sound as a major factor causing people in EVs to feel car sick. The absence of these familiar cues leads to a sensory mismatch, where the signals from the eyes, inner ear and body don't align with what the brain is expecting. This is a well-known cause of motion sickness. Another factor is regenerative braking, a technology common in EVS that converts the car's kinetic energy into electricity during deceleration. This process results in low-frequency deceleration, meaning the vehicle slows down gradually and steadily rather than in quick pulses. Studies have shown that this type of braking is also linked to higher levels of motion sickness. A 2024 study published in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction concluded: "Our results confirmed that higher levels of RB [regenerative braking] can induce MS [motion sickness]." Anticipating the movement of a vehicle is key to avoiding motion sickness, which is why drivers, who should always be able to see what is coming, are less likely to feel sick than passengers. The lack of familiar cues in EVs means passengers, especially those in the back seat, are more likely to feel car sick. With EV ownership on the rise, researchers are exploring solutions to this 'sickening' situation. Some suggest that using visual signals, such as interactive screens and ambient lighting, as well as vibrational cues, could help passengers anticipate motion changes and reduce the likelihood of feeling sick in EVS.
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Trump's tax bill seeks to prevent AI regulations. Experts fear a heavy toll on the planet
US Republicans are pushing to pass a major spending bill that includes provisions to prevent states from enacting regulations on artificial intelligence. Such untamed growth in AI will take a heavy toll upon the world's dangerously overheating climate, experts have warned. About 1bn tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide are set to be emitted in the US just from AI over the next decade if no restraints are placed on the industry's enormous electricity consumption, according to estimates by researchers at Harvard University and provided to the Guardian. This 10-year timeframe, a period of time in which Republicans want a 'pause' of state-level regulations upon AI, will see so much electricity use in data centers for AI purposes that the US will add more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than Japan does annually, or three times the yearly total from the UK. The exact amount of emissions will depend on power plant efficiency and how much clean energy will be used in the coming years, but the blocking of regulations will also be a factor, said Gianluca Guidi, visiting scholar at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. 'By limiting oversight, it could slow the transition away from fossil fuels and reduce incentives for more energy-efficient AI energy reliance,' Guidi said. 'We talk a lot about what AI can do for us, but not nearly enough about what it's doing to the planet. If we're serious about using AI to improve human wellbeing, we can't ignore the growing toll it's taking on climate stability and public health.' Donald Trump has vowed that the US will become 'the world capital of artificial intelligence and crypto' and has set about sweeping aside guardrails around AI development and demolishing rules limiting greenhouse gas pollution. The 'big beautiful' reconciliation bill passed by Republicans in the House of Representatives would bar states from adding their own regulations upon AI and the GOP-controlled Senate is poised to pass its own version doing likewise. Unrestricted AI use is set to deal a sizable blow to efforts to tackle the climate crisis, though, by causing surging electricity use from a US grid still heavily reliant upon fossil fuels such as gas and coal. AI is particularly energy-hungry – one ChatGPT query needs about 10 times as much electricity as a Google search query. Carbon emissions from data centers in the US have tripled since 2018, with an upcoming Harvard research paper finding that the largest 'hyperscale' centers now account for 2% of all US electricity use. 'AI is going to change our world,' Manu Asthana, chief executive of the PJM Interconnection, the US largest grid, has predicted. Asthana estimated that almost all future increase in electricity demand will come from data centers, adding the equivalent of 20m new homes to the grid in the next five years. The explosive growth of AI has, meanwhile, worsened the recent erosion in climate commitments made by big tech companies. Last year, Google admitted that its greenhouse gas emissions have grown by 48% since 2019 due to its own foray into AI, meaning that 'reducing emissions may be challenging' as AI further takes hold. Proponents of AI, and some researchers, have argued that advances in AI will aid the climate fight by increasing efficiencies in grid management and other improvements. Others are more skeptical. 'That is just a greenwashing maneuver, quite transparently,' said Alex Hanna, director of research at the Distributed AI Research Institute. 'There have been some absolutely nonsense things said about this. Big tech is mortgaging the present for a future that will never come.' While no state has yet placed specific green rules upon AI, they may look to do so given cuts to federal environmental regulations, with state lawmakers urging Congress to rethink the ban. 'If we were expecting any rule-making at the federal level around data centers it's surely off the table now,' said Hanna. 'It's all been quite alarming to see.' Republican lawmakers are undeterred, however. The proposed moratorium cleared a major hurdle over the weekend when the Senate parliamentarian decided that the proposed ban on state and local regulation of AI can remain in Trump's tax and spending mega-bill. The Texas senator Ted Cruz, the Republican who chairs the Senate committee on commerce, science and transportation, changed the language to comply with the Byrd Rule, which prohibits 'extraneous matters' from being included in such spending bills. The provision now refers to a 'temporary pause' on regulation instead of a moratorium. It also includes a $500m addition to a grant program to expand access to broadband internet across the country, preventing states from receiving those funds if they attempt to regulate AI. The proposed AI regulation pause has provoked widespread concern from Democrats. The Massachusetts senator Ed Markey, a climate hawk, says he has prepared an amendment to strip the 'dangerous' provision from the bill. 'The rapid development of artificial intelligence is already impacting our environment, raising energy prices for consumers, straining our grid's ability to keep the lights on, draining local water supplies, spewing toxic pollution in communities, and increasing climate emissions,' Markey told the Guardian. 'However, instead of allowing states to protect the public and our planet, Republicans want to ban them from regulating AI for 10 years. It is shortsighted and irresponsible.' The Massachusetts congressman Jake Auchincloss has also called the proposal 'a terrible idea and an unpopular idea'. 'I think we have to realize that AI is going to suffuse in rapid order many dimensions of healthcare, media, entertainment, education, and to just proscribe any regulation of AI in any use case for the next decade is unbelievably reckless,' he said. Some Republicans have also come out against the provision, including the Tennessee senator Marsha Blackburn and the Missouri senator Josh Hawley. An amendment to remove the pause from the bill would require the support of at least four Republican senators to pass. Hawley is said to be willing to introduce an amendment to remove the provision later this week if it is not eliminated beforehand. Earlier this month, the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene admitted she had missed the provision in the House version of the bill, and that she would not have backed the legislation if she had seen it. The far-right House Freedom caucus, of which Greene is a member, has also come out against the AI regulation pause.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
How we're killing our microbiome
Our human microbiome is in decline, which is likely to be contributing to the sharp rise in non-communicable diseases, health conditions that cannot be directly transmitted between people, such as cardiovascular disease and cancers. Josh Toussaint-Strauss talks to Dr James Kinross, colorectal surgeon and author of the book Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome, about why the human microbiome is in decline, how modern life is impacting it and what we can do to look after it James Kinross also appeared recently on the Guardian's Science Weekly podcast, you can listen here:
