Analysis of the Motion Sickness and the Lack of Comfort in Car Passengers

Abstract

Advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) are primarily designed to increase driving safety and reduce traffic congestion without paying too much attention to passenger comfort or motion sickness. However, in view of autonomous cars, and taking into account that the lack of comfort and motion sickness increase in passengers, analysis from a comfort perspective is essential in the future car investigation. The aim of this work is to study in detail how passenger’s comfort evaluation parameters vary depending on the driving style, car or road. The database used has been developed by compiling the accelerations suffered by passengers when three drivers cruise two different vehicles on different types of routes. In order to evaluate both comfort and motion sickness, first, the numerical values of the main comfort evaluation variables reported in the literature have been analyzed. Moreover, a complementary statistical analysis of probability density and a power spectral analysis are performed. Finally, quantitative results are compared with passenger qualitative feedback. The results show the high dependence of comfort evaluation variables’ value with the road type. In addition, it has been demonstrated that the driving style and vehicle dynamics amplify or attenuate those values. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that contributions from longitudinal and lateral accelerations have a much greater effect in the lack of comfort than vertical ones. Finally, based on the concrete results obtained, a new experimental campaign is proposed.

A comfort evaluation method based on an intelligent car cockpit

“…Silva (2002) collected thermal comfort, air quality, noise, vibration, and other indices in the cabin through sensors, and uses objective algorithms to evaluate comfort. Asua et al (2022) also evaluated comfort and motion sickness by the vibration acceleration experienced by passengers in the car cockpit.…”

“…Silva (2002) collected thermal comfort, air quality, noise, vibration, and other indices in the cabin through sensors, and uses objective algorithms to evaluate comfort. Asua et al (2022) also evaluated comfort and motion sickness by the vibration acceleration experienced by passengers in the car cockpit. These methods have achieved the comfort evaluation of the car cockpit to a certain extent, but most methods are still too objective and cannot fully represent the real feelings of passengers.…”

Hydraulic Vehicle Damper Controlled by Piezoelectric Valve

“…For this, it is also necessary to develop appropriate control algorithms that realize the assumed optimization criterion, for example, comfort criterion. Driving comfort is defined as a reduction in the intensity of changes in vertical acceleration of a selected point of the vehicle body (e.g., driver or passenger seat points), which is defined in ISO 2631 [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. On the other hand, increased driving safety is influenced not only by the reduction in horizontal and lateral accelerations [ 24 ], but also by the change in the value of the forces exerted by the wheels on the road (so-called dynamic wheel load changes) as well as the condition of the tires [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

“…Driving comfort is defined as a reduction in the intensity of changes in vertical acceleration of a selected point of the vehicle body (e.g., driver or passenger seat points), which is defined in ISO 2631 [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. On the other hand, increased driving safety is influenced not only by the reduction in horizontal and lateral accelerations [ 24 ], but also by the change in the value of the forces exerted by the wheels on the road (so-called dynamic wheel load changes) as well as the condition of the tires [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. When discussing control algorithms, it should be noted that many dampers using non-Newtonian fluid have inherently nonlinear characteristics; therefore, the selection of an effective control strategy remains a difficult problem to solve and apply [ 29 ].…”

Performance Analysis of an Asymmetric Damper Suspension on Rough Roads and Steps

“…For vehicle engineering, comfort is commonly defined as the overall well-being experienced by passengers during travel [1] and is often quantified using the acceleration imposed on them. Excessive vibrations not only diminish the driver's comfort but can also have more serious consequences, including fatigue and musculoskeletal disorders [2].…”