Passengers can engage more in nondriving-related tasks owing to recent advancements in autonomous vehicles (AVs), making immersive tools such as virtual reality (VR) appealing; however, motion sickness (MS) remains a significant challenge. We present SYNC-VR, a system that aligns with visual, haptic, and auditory cues and provides proprioceptive feedback to illustrate its effect on MS and presence within the in-vehicle VR. We conducted an experiment with 24 participants using a real vehicle along a route with known MS-triggering events. Using subjective and physiological measures, we assessed participants’ presence and MS under four conditions by gradually varying the level of synchronized input sensations. Results reveal that SYNC-VR reduces MS and increases the sense of presence. Additionally, it emphasizes the impact of our interactive VR content and its role in achieving proprioceptive feedback with haptic feedback through electrical muscle stimulation, introducing an innovative approach to MS mitigation in in-vehicle VR.

With the introduction of autonomous vehicles, pedestrians may no longer expect explicit communication from drivers. Despite the anticipated safety benefits of anthropomorphic human–machine interfaces (HMIs) for pedestrian crossings, the impact of different levels of anthropomorphism and communication on pedestrian safety remains insufficiently understood. We proposed a virtual-agent (VA) HMI that mimics driver behavior and investigated pedestrians’ preferences through augmented reality (AR) experiments. Eighteen participants made decisions about crossing after receiving cues about the vehicle’s intentions from VA HMIs. Participants preferred the "characterized" VA HMI owing to its aesthetically pleasing design and found the "eye contact + hand gesture" combination to be more easily comprehensible. We found that while the degree of anthropomorphism did not significantly affect pedestrians’ crossing decisions, more explicit communication was helpful. Our study provides empirical evidence regarding users’ experiences of HMI in AR and the effectiveness of VA HMIs that imitate driver communication modes.