Jaguar Land Rover is developing software that will reduce motion sickness by adapting the driving style of future autonomous vehicles, to continue to provide our customers with the most refined and comfortable ride possible.

During the project’s first phase, a personalized “wellness score” was developed that could reduce the impact of motion sickness by up to 60%, which was implemented into self-driving software, according to the automaker.

The intelligent software combines 20,000 real-world and virtually-simulated test miles to calculate a set of parameters for driving dynamics to be rated against, Jaguar Land Rover said. Advanced machine learning then ensures the car can optimise its driving style based on data gathered from every mile driven by the autonomous fleet.

This technology can then be used to teach Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles how to drive autonomously.

Motion sickness, which affects more than 70% of people, is often caused when the eyes observe information different from that sensed by the inner ear, skin or body – commonly when reading on long journeys in a vehicle. Using the new system, acceleration, braking and lane positioning, all of which help contribute to motion sickness, can be optimised to avoid inducing nausea in passengers.

As a result of the project, engineers are now able to develop more refined advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) features on future Jaguar and Land Rover models, such as adaptive cruise control and lane monitoring systems.