Driverless Car Report May Make 'Autotopia' Dreamers Throw Up

Google recently unveiled its first fully autonomous car, which could be on streets in California yet this year – but there’s a problem. (Photo via Creative Commons)

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If you think those driverless vehicles aren’t for the faint of heart, your skepticism is almost spot on: Just go south a bit.

A new report from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute projects that between 6 percent and 12 percent of Americans will experience moderate to severe motion sickness while riding in the autonomous vehicles, the Detroit Free Press reports.

And it’s not something they’re likely to get used to, either.

The queasy, nauseous feelings have a psychological explanation, according to study authors Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoelette, who wrote:

“By switching from driver to passenger, by definition, one gives up control over the direction of motion, and there are no remedies for this.”

And, depending on what you’re doing while you’re riding along not worrying about what’s over the hill and around the corner, the feeling that your lunch is repeating on you may be more intense if you’re reading, watching movies or television, texting or doing other activities you can’t do behind the wheel.

The antidote? Watching the road can reduce the discomfort of driverless cars, according to the study.

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The study is a blip – or perhaps a burp? – that cheerleaders of the new “it” technology don’t seem too concerned about.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas on Tuesday issued a report on the future autotopia, where fleets of cars can be summoned on a smartphone app. Jonas said subways and other mass transit systems are “at risk of being progressively decommissioned.”

And Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk predicted there may be a day when it’s against the law to drive a car because it will be safer to let software do the driving.

Fully autonomous cars are still years away, but automakers shouldn’t shrug off the serious challenges to consumer acceptance outlined in the report, the authors said.

They believes some design corrections may make the public more receptive – and decrease some of the physical side effects of riding in driverless cars.

Some suggestions: designing a vehicle that allows riders to recline flat on their backs, increasing vision outside the vehicle, orienting video screens so they’re pointed ahead, and eliminating swivel seats and limiting head motion.