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There’s nothing worse than getting carsick on a long, winding, bumpy ride.
And, for the one in three people who are especially prone to motion sickness, the inevitable nausea can be an almost daily inconvenience.
But now one company says it has the solution to combating travel sickness, and it could even help with the experience of driving over bumpy terrain.
ClearMotion, a Massachusetts-based startup that has offices in Birmingham, UK, and Shanghai, China, just announced a $1 billion deal to create a futuristic chassis that aims to cancel out unwanted motion from cars.
By adapting the vehicle to the road, this high-tech suspension allows the car to actively cancel out bumps in the road.
One in three people suffers from dizziness and this can be a daily inconvenience for those most affected (file image)
Massachusetts-based startup ClearMotion claims to have made motion sickness a thing of the past with its high-tech suspension systems
Inspired by traveling the bumpy roads of Massachusetts, the team behind ClearVision realized that the way cars currently operate was not suitable for the future.
As more cars become autonomous, the hope is that one day we will have a lot more time to read, write, or do whatever we want while on the road.
Estimates from McKinsey & Company suggest that up to a third of cars could have some form of automation by 2030.
But anyone who has ever tried to read while in the back of a car will know how much motion sickness makes it worse.
While the causes of motion sickness are complex, part of the reason we get sick while driving is the small repeated movements caused by the car going over bumps.
These lumps cause the eyes and inner ear to provide different signals than the inner ear, causing a feeling of discomfort.
What ClearVision hopes is that by eliminating motion from the car, they can reduce motion sickness even among people who might be working on the car.
Zackary Anderson, CTO and co-founder of ClearMotion, told MailOnline: “As we move towards a hands-off, hands-off future, time that would be spent driving can now be used to work, rest, watch a movie with the children: everything they need on the way to their next destination without dizziness and a much smoother trip.’
ClearMotion says it wants its technology to help people relax or be productive in cars without feeling dizzy looking at screens.
To reduce motion sickness, ClearMotion replaces traditional shock absorbers with small, fast-acting actuators that move the wheels up and down.
Traditional suspension systems use loaded springs in the car’s chassis to absorb some of the impact from uneven road surfaces.
But to achieve an even smoother driving experience, ClearMotion has had to update this technology for the 21st century.
Instead of springs, the car is equipped with a small fast-acting motor attached to a pump mechanism.
These motors push and pull the wheels to deal with bumps in the road, allowing the car to move smoothly over obstacles.
But what makes it truly unique is that the ClearMotion technology actively responds to the road surface as the car moves.
Anderson explains that the motors “move the wheel up and down at really high speeds to sense what the road is doing and then cancel out any movement before it hits the body of the car.”
The system works like active noise cancellation does in a nice pair of headphones: the suspension detects disturbances from the environment and actively responds to cancel them out.
While it doesn’t completely eliminate motion, Anderson says it “significantly mitigates unpleasant motion while also providing some feedback to the driver.”
The suspension works like noise-canceling headphones by measuring incoming disturbances and actively canceling them out.
Each actuator contains a powerful motor that senses what the road is doing and cancels that motion before it reaches the car body.
Anderson explained that ClearMotion achieves this effect in two ways.
One solution relies on the suspension taking data from the car’s sensors to create an image of the approaching road surface.
For example, when you approach a pothole, the suspension automatically detects the hole and extends the wheel so the car and its passengers remain level.
Second, ClearMotion uses crowd-sourced road surface data to “help cars make the right decision at the right time.”
The company’s software generates an accurate map of the road surface that is combined with precise location data to predict how the car should react before it is necessary.
According to ClearMotion, this results in approximately 75 percent vibrations in the driver’s seat on a standard road compared to the best reference cars on the road.
Anderson also told MailOnline that consumers who have tested the car report reduced motion sickness during the journey.
However, there have been a number of high-profile setbacks to the dream of having roads filled with autonomous vehicles.
Based on measurements taken in the driver’s seat, ClearMotion claims its technology reduced vibrations by 75%.
The dreams of autonomous vehicle advocates were dashed when California banned all autonomous vehicles and prompted a recall of all Cruise vehicles in the state.
Recently, the King revealed plans for an “autonomous vehicle bill” that would ease restrictions on self-driving buses and trucks.
However, the same laws faced criticism for delaying the approval of autonomous vehicles and faced Tesla with an effective ban on selling new “driverless” systems in the UK.
This came after Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, was forced to recall all of its autonomous vehicles when California banned them.
The measure was prompted by a horrific accident in which a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by an autonomous vehicle.
However, these obstacles have not caused undue concern for ClearMotion, which has branched out into providing suspension for new electric vehicles.
As of 2022, the company had raised around $280m (£221m) in total and raised another $35m (£27.6m) in 2023.
As the year closes, the company announced that three million units of ClearMotion1, the flagship suspension product, will go to the ET9, NIO’s latest electric car.
Anderson says the company hopes to make its technology more widely available in the future and likens it to innovation in air travel.
He added: “When the first passenger aircraft with a pressurized cabin was introduced, it transformed the experience of air travel and opened a new era of passenger flying for consumers.
‘People were now flying above the weather with a comfortable, enjoyable and enjoyable flying experience and air travel became much more common.
‘We want the driving experience to be pleasant and productive, like traveling by plane. One where you can watch a movie or work during your cabin experience.’