Motion sickness in passengers of automated vehicles could prevent users from taking advantage of the automation features, as well as lead to unsafe takeover conditions. To conduct motion sickness research, the first step requires motion sickness induction, and its verification. In the current study, twenty-nine participants experienced being a passenger in a fully self-driving vehicle on a motion-based driving simulator. A Control route designed to mimic typical driving conditions on a driving simulator, and a Treatment route that produced large lateral accelerations were tested. The Treatment route was also tested with a non-driving related task (NDRT). Results showed that exposure duration and increased lateral accelerations significantly increased motion sickness. Addition of the cognitively demanding NDRT led to a reduction in motion sickness, suggesting the possibility of a masking effect when engaged in an NDRT in an automated vehicle. Overall, the designed Treatment route was verified to successfully induce motion sickness.

Automated vehicles (AVs) are the next wave of evolution in the transportation industry, but the progress towards increased levels of automation faces several challenges. One of the major problems, that gets overlooked, is motion sickness. As more drivers become passengers engaging in ‘passenger tasks’, it will lead to greater occurrences of motion sickness, preventing AVs from providing their true benefit to society. In an attempt to encourage more researchers to solve the problem of motion sickness in AVs, this study conducted a literature review following the PRISMA framework to identify the latest research trends and methodologies. Based on the findings and limitations in the existing literature, this study suggests a bird's-eye-view research framework consisting of causation, induction, measurement, and mitigation techniques, that researchers and early practitioners can utilize to conduct research in this field. Furthermore, the paper highlights future research directions in mitigation techniques to combat motion sickness in AVs.