-
-
News
News Highlights
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueWhat's Your Sweet Spot?
Are you in a niche that’s growing or shrinking? Is it time to reassess and refocus? We spotlight companies thriving by redefining or reinforcing their niche. What are their insights?
Moving Forward With Confidence
In this issue, we focus on sales and quoting, workforce training, new IPC leadership in the U.S. and Canada, the effects of tariffs, CFX standards, and much more—all designed to provide perspective as you move through the cloud bank of today's shifting economic market.
Intelligent Test and Inspection
Are you ready to explore the cutting-edge advancements shaping the electronics manufacturing industry? The May 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine is packed with insights, innovations, and expert perspectives that you won’t want to miss.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Mobility Lab Helps Fight Motion Sickness in Self-Driving Cars
July 2, 2019 | Eindhoven University of TechnologyEstimated reading time: 3 minutes

Autonomous cars are safer to drive and offer passengers the opportunity to relax, sit back and enjoy while being transported to their destination. There is a drawback, though. Many people experience motion sickness when reading or watching a movie in a moving car.
Image Caption: The Vibrotactile Display with Active Movement Mechanism (VDAM) combines vibrations in the forearm and through moveable plates in the chair
Two Malaysian researchers at the faculty of Industrial Design of the Eindhoven University of Technology, Nidzamuddin Md. Yusof and Juffrizal Karjanto, have found ways to alleviate this problem by increasing the so-called passengers’ situational awareness. To test their solution they built a Mobility Lab, a special car outfitted with instruments that simulates an autonomous car. Md. Yusof and Karjanto will defend their dissertations on July 3th and 4th at the TU/e.
In a fully automated vehicle, human drivers become passengers. While the car handles all driving tasks and decisions, they have the freedom to engage in work, socializing or leisure activities. However, once involved in non-driving tasks, people tend to become unaware of the intentions of the vehicle. As a result, they are unprepared for the forces generated from acceleration, braking or turning. For many people this leads to motion sickness, a serious problem that may hamper the further development of self-driving cars.
This may be solved by letting autonomous cars drive in a more defensive manner, avoiding abrupt changes in direction or speed. However, in an urban environment with many junctions and corners, this is not a solution.
Mobility Lab
To provide a better alternative, the two researchers developed four non-intrusive devices that inform the passenger about his whereabouts without the need to look outside. Two devices provided peripheral information through a visual display, the other two through haptic feedback. They tested their devices in a specially outfitted car, the Mobility Lab, that simulates an automated car in real life. This provided them with much more relevant results than traditional simulators.
Peripheral visual feedforward system (PVFS): (left) Positioning inside the Mobility Lab; (right) Light moving from bottom to top on the right side to indicate that the fully automated vehicle is about to turn to the right.
The devices were tested on around 20 passengers each, with every participant undergoing three separate one-hour sessions where they had to either watch a movie or read a book on a tablet. The results show that all four systems increased the situation awareness of the participants. Two devices also managed to reduce symptoms of motion sickness: the Peripheral Visual Feedforward System (PVFS) (for participants who watched a movie), and the Vibrotactile Display with Active Movement Mechanism (VDAM) (for participants who read a book on a tablet).
The PVFS consists of two rows of 32 LED lights left and right of the movie screen, that inform the passenger in an unobtrusive way of the intended turn of the car. The VDAM conveys information about the car’s intentions by vibrations in the forearm and through moveable plates in the chair.
Future Design
The researchers hope their work contributes to the design of future interfaces inside the interiors of automated vehicles. “We mainly focused on the vehicle’s technology and its impact on motion sickness, but the development of a sustainable product should also take into account the passengers’ comfort and experience. This requires the input from different educational and experience backgrounds.”
The Mobility Lab will remain at the Department of Industrial Design in the TU/e, and will be used for further research into the design of self-driving cars. In addition, an identical version of the Mobility Lab will be developed at the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, with collaboration from TU/e, focusing on Asian users.
Suggested Items
Microchip Enters into Partnership Agreement with Delta Electronics on Silicon Carbide Solutions
07/18/2025 | Globe NewswireThe growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the electrification of everything are driving an ever-increasing demand for higher levels of power efficiency and reliability.
ESD Alliance Reports Electronic System Design Industry Posts $5.1 Billion in Revenue in Q1 2025
07/16/2025 | SEMIElectronic System Design (ESD) industry revenue increased 12.8% to $5,098.3 million in the first quarter of 2025 from the $4,521.6 million registered in the first quarter of 2024, the ESD Alliance, a SEMI Technology Community, announced in its latest Electronic Design Market Data (EDMD) report.
Beyond Design: Refining Design Constraints
07/17/2025 | Barry Olney -- Column: Beyond DesignBefore starting any project, it is crucial to develop a thorough plan that encompasses all essential requirements. This ensures that the final product not only aligns with the design concept but is also manufacturable, reliable, and meets performance expectations. High-speed PCB design requires us to not only push technological boundaries but also consider various factors related to higher frequencies, faster transition times, and increased bandwidths during the design process.
Prague PEDC: Call for Abstracts Deadline July 31
07/16/2025 | Pan-European Electronics Design Conference (PEDC)The second Pan-European Electronics Design Conference (PEDC) will take place Jan. 21-22, 2026, in Prague, Czech Republic. The call for abstracts deadline is July 31. Organized jointly by the German Electronics Design and Manufacturing Association (FED) and the Global Electronics Association PEDC serves as a European platform for knowledge exchange, networking, and innovation in electronics design and development.
The Pulse: Design Constraints for the Next Generation
07/17/2025 | Martyn Gaudion -- Column: The PulseIn Europe, where engineering careers were once seen as unpopular and lacking street credibility, we have been witnessing a turnaround in the past few years. The industry is now welcoming a new cohort of designers and engineers as people are showing a newfound interest in the profession.