Efficient Motion Sickness Assessment: Recreation of On-Road Driving on a Compact Test Track

TL;DR

This study presents a method using model predictive control to replicate on-road motion sickness on a small test track, enabling safer and more reproducible assessments of motion sickness in automated vehicle research.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel approach to simulate on-road motion sickness on a compact test track using optimized path and speed control, improving reproducibility and safety.

Findings

No significant difference in motion sickness occurrence between on-road and test-track conditions.

Individual sickness levels are consistent across both testing environments.

The method enables reliable, safe, and replicable motion sickness assessment.

Abstract

The ability to engage in other activities during the ride is considered by consumers as one of the key reasons for the adoption of automated vehicles. However, engagement in non-driving activities will provoke occupants' motion sickness, deteriorating their overall comfort and thereby risking acceptance of automated driving. Therefore, it is critical to extend our understanding of motion sickness and unravel the modulating factors that affect it through experiments with participants. Currently, most experiments are conducted on public roads (realistic but not reproducible) or test tracks (feasible with prototype automated vehicles). This research study develops a method to design an optimal path and speed reference to efficiently replicate on-road motion sickness exposure on a small test track. The method uses model predictive control to replicate the longitudinal and lateral accelerations collected from on-road drives on a test track of 70 m by 175 m. A within-subject experiment (47 participants) was conducted comparing the occupants' motion sickness occurrence in test-track and on-road conditions, with the conditions being cross-randomized. The results illustrate no difference and no effect of the condition on the occurrence of the average motion sickness across the participants. Meanwhile, there is an overall correspondence of individual sickness levels between on-road and test-track. This paves the path for the employment of our method for a simpler, safer and more replicable assessment of motion sickness.