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Research Says Autonomous Car Seats Must Factor in Slouching Patterns

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The Washington Post reported that two self-driving car prototypes nearly collided Tuesday in Palo Alto, California.

Gowda believes autonomous cars like this Google self-driving model should take slouching patterns into consideration
Photo: Jon R Via Flickr

As the race to the first fully autonomous car continues, more and more researchers are focusing their attention on the various features these cars will offer. For Nikhil Gowda, a researcher at Stanford University’s Center for Design Research, this focus is centered on people’s sitting habits.

According to Gowda’s personal observations and research, when people sit for a very long time, they instinctively tend to slouch. During his 3.5-hour daily commute, Gowda noticed when a person does not need to sit up to hold a steering wheel or pay attention to the road, he or she will slouch down and spread out. Gowda believes this is an important factor in the future design of autonomous vehicles.

So far, Gowda doesn’t believe the current interior designs released by automotive giants will cut it, not because they aren’t comfortable, but because they don’t accommodate for slouching over long periods of time. Some news outlets like Carscoops have suggested reclined seats. While this solution does, in fact, fix the slouching problem, it brings up the entirely new problem of safety.

News Source: Autoblog