Autonomous personal mobility vehicles (APMVs) are novel smart mobility devices designed to provide automated individual transportation in indoor or mixed-traffic environments. However, in such environments, frequent pedestrian avoidance maneuvers may cause rapid steering adjustments and passive postural responses from passengers, thereby increasing the risk of motion sickness. This study investigated whether indicating the future driving path could mitigate motion sickness in APMV passengers. A mixed-design experiment was conducted with 40 participants under two self-reported genders as a between-subject factor (male and female), two driving paths as a between-subject factor (irregular and regular) and three driving conditions as a within-subject factor (manual driving (MD), automated driving without path indication (AD w/o path), and automated driving with path indication (AD w/ path)). Motion sickness was evaluated using the Motion Illness Symptom Classification (MISC), and head motion was assessed by calculating the delay time of participants' head yaw rate relative to APMV's yaw rate in the turning direction. The results showed that driving condition was the only factor that significantly affected both motion sickness and head-motion delay. Compared with the AD w/o path condition, both the MD and AD w/ path conditions were associated with lower motion sickness severity, longer motion sickness onset latency, and earlier head motion relative to vehicle motion. Notably, the AD w/ path condition achieved motion sickness levels comparable to those in the MD condition. Furthermore, repeated-measures correlation analysis showed significant associations between head-motion delay and all MISC metrics but the underlying physiological mechanism remains to be elucidated. These findings suggest that presenting information about future driving path can mitigate motion sickness in APMV passengers.

翻译：自主式个人移动车辆（APMVs）是新型智能移动设备，旨在为室内或混合交通环境中的自动化个体出行提供服务。然而，在此类环境中，频繁的避让行人操作可能导致快速转向调整和乘客的被动姿态反应，从而增加晕动症风险。本研究探究了指示未来行驶路径是否能够减轻APMV乘客的晕动症。一项混合设计实验招募了40名参与者，以两种自我报告的性别（男性和女性）作为被试间因素，两种行驶路径（不规则和规则）作为被试间因素，以及三种驾驶条件（手动驾驶（MD）、无路径指示的自动驾驶（AD w/o path）和有路径指示的自动驾驶（AD w/ path））作为被试内因素。使用运动病症症状分类量表（MISC）评估晕动症，并通过计算参与者头部偏航角速度相对于APMV转向方向偏航角速度的延迟时间来评估头部运动。结果显示，驾驶条件是唯一显著影响晕动症和头部运动延迟的因素。与无路径指示的自动驾驶条件相比，手动驾驶和有路径指示的自动驾驶条件均与更低的晕动症严重程度、更长的晕动症发作潜伏期以及更早的相对于车辆运动的头部运动相关。值得注意的是，有路径指示的自动驾驶条件达到了与手动驾驶条件相当的晕动症水平。此外，重复测量相关分析显示，头部运动延迟与所有MISC指标之间存在显著关联，但其潜在的生理机制仍有待阐明。这些发现表明，呈现未来行驶路径信息可以减轻APMV乘客的晕动症。