Can Visual Motion Presented in a VR Headset Reduce Motion Sickness for Vehicle Passengers?

Abstract

To make the rise of automated vehicles possible and to allow for their mass adoption, one major problem still needs to be solved: Motion sickness. Automated vehicles lead to increased motion sickness partly caused by an occlusion of the outside world (conflict between visual and vestibular system). In this study, we propose the usage of Virtual Reality (VR) headsets for productivity tasks while traveling as well as a motion sickness mitigation strategy. Car motion is simulated using a rotating chair while a reading task is presented in VR with or without visual motion cues being presented in the background. Visual motion cues showed a somewhat beneficial effect on motion sickness in this study without being perceived as too distracting from the primary reading task or affecting reading performance further highlighting the potential of VR usage in transport.