Do you experience worse car sickness in electric cars than in petrol cars? You’re not alone - and when it comes to self-driving cars, it may be even worse.

Although scientists aren’t exactly sure what causes motion sickness, it has to do with passengers losing the ability to predict future movements. When you read a magazine in a car, your eyes will signal to your brain that the car is not moving. However, your brain will recognize the vibrations (振动) and turns that the car makes. This can confuse the mind and make you start to feel sick.

As for electric cars, one-pedal (单踏板) driving is often linked to feelings of car sickness, according to the US Department of Energy. The one pedal does both the accelerating (加速) and braking (刹 车) - the driver steps on the pedal to increase speed and takes their foot off the pedal to slow down. If you stop accelerating, the one-pedal will automatically slow and stop the car. The deceleration caused by this system is thus more rapid than that of petrol cars, which may lead to motion sickness.

Another technological advance that can also be related to car sickness is the larger and increasing number of screens inside vehicles. These screens overburden users with visual information, which discourages them from looking outside, according to The Conversation. Passengers thereby lose their ability to take in the “correct” visual signals, such as the moving surroundings, which can lead to sickness.

Unfortunately, even when people get used to the movements of electric cars and experience less car sickness, self-driving vehicles might be another challenge for them. According to a 2015 study, as much as 12 percent of the US population may feel carsick while riding in autonomous vehicles.

To ensure the widespread usage of new types of vehicles, car producers are working to solve such problems with better technology. For example, Japanese company Honda is working on reducing the car’s “violent (猛烈的) ”acceleration by making changes to the engine, said Car Magazine.

【小题1】What is the possible cause of passengers experiencing motion sickness?

A．Lack of visual signals in the car.

B．Unpredictable movements of the car.

C．Inability to sense vibrations and turns.

D．The brain’s confusion about movements.

【小题2】What makes electric cars more likely to cause car sickness than petrol cars?

A．Their unique driving mode.

B．Their slow way of braking.

C．Their violent acceleration.

D．Their constant pedal adjustment.

【小题3】What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．Potential dangers of placing screens in cars.

B．A technology to reduce car sickness.

C．A design aspect in vehicles that causes car sickness.

D．Passengers’ different responses to car sickness.

【小题4】What is Honda doing to improve its cars?

A．Developing a more powerful engine.

B．Reducing their cars’ deceleration time.

C．Making the cars’ acceleration smoother.

D．Adding more automatic adjustment features.