
Cyriel DielsRoyal College of Art | RCA · Intelligent Mobility Design Centre
Cyriel Diels
PhD, MSc
About
118
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
November 2018 - present
November 2017 - November 2018
September 2016 - September 2017
Publications
Publications (118)
Despite the enhanced realism and immersion provided by VR head-sets, users frequently encounter adverse effects such as digital eye strain (DES), dry eye, and potential long-term visual impairment due to excessive eye stimulation from VR displays and pressure from the mask. Recent VR headsets are increasingly equipped with eye-oriented monocular ca...
Despite the enhanced realism and immersion provided by VR head-sets, users frequently encounter adverse effects such as digital eye strain (DES), dry eye, and potential long-term visual impairment due to excessive eye stimulation from VR displays and pressure from the mask. Recent VR headsets are increasingly equipped with eye-oriented monocular ca...
Earthquakes have a significant impact on societies and economies, driving the need for effective search and rescue strategies. With the growing role of AI and robotics in these operations, high-quality synthetic visual data becomes crucial. Current simulation methods, mostly focusing on single building damages, often fail to provide realistic visua...
“The automotive industry is transitioning toward a more digital future. Not just in the form of digitalization of the product itself but also in the process of customer interaction, e.g., during product selection. These trends facilitate advanced manufacturing processes as well as new product designs. The interaction with design also includes an on...
This paper introduces the concept of Anti-Ephemeral Design through a discussion about automotive design responsibility on collaborating to the generation of consumption habits which have great impact on the environment. The paper examines the relationship between consumerism and the mythical images of the automobile. Findings from the Joyful Journe...
Variable speed limits (VSL) aim at improving safety and traffic fluidity by increasing drivers’ awareness. In the present simulator study, VSL displayed on overhead gantries on a motorway were also displayed on a mobile phone, fixed on the vehicle’s centre console, with distance-based triggers (250 m vs. 500 m from the overhead gantry). Results sho...
Access to transport is essential for an individual’s effective participation in social, economic and political activities. However, individuals are excluded from participating in many of these activities due to transport-related social exclusion. Inclusive design is commonly used to address issues of exclusion in the development of products and ser...
Motion sickness is known under several names in different domains, such as seasickness, carsickness, cybersickness, and simulator sickness. As we will argue, these can all be considered manifestations of one common underlying mechanism. In recent years, it has received renewed interest, largely due to the advent of automated vehicles and developmen...
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled service robots. Whilst having the potential to enhance our transport systems and journey experiences, there are concerns that the public may be reluctant to adopt AVs, largely driven by doubts about their safety. In this study, we focussed on the role of the exterior vehicle design...
Motion sickness in automated vehicles (AVs) represents a key Human Factors concern that will negatively impact the passenger experience and, ultimately, public acceptance. Minimizing or avoiding motion sickness altogether, therefore, becomes a strategic design goal. In this article
we propose principal research questions that need to be addressed a...
Automotive seat comfort is becoming one of the major aspects in distinguishing companies from their competitors. We here explored the role of the visual appearance of automotive seats in the perception of initial seat comfort. Unlike discomfort, the concept of comfort is regarded a highly subjective and multi-faceted phenomenon. This paper addresse...
The study built on previous work and earlier findings where it asks the question which seating design elements in particular are effective in differentiating expected automotive seating comfort. Two hypothesis were tested with a mixed methods approach 1) that automotive seats with triangular integrated headrests and angular shape characteristics le...
The use of interaction analysis for creating agent-based models could lead to more empirical simulations. This study focuses on pedestrian-street interaction during negotiations at a signal-controlled crossing. It examines which data from interaction analysis could be used in the development of artificial pedestrian societies. This article sets out...
Motion sickness has gained renewed interested in the context of the developments in vehicle automation in which we are witnessing a transition from a driver-centric to passenger-centric design philosophy. As a corollary, motion sickness can be expected to become considerably more prevalent which creates a hurdle towards the successful introduction...
Background:
The role of appearance of automotive seats on perceived comfort and comfort expectancy has been acknowledged in previous research but it has not been investigated in depth.
Objective:
To identify the effects of the appearance of production automotive seats, based on the hypothesis that visual design differentiations are affective in...
Ride comfort can heavily influence user experience and therefore comprises one of the most important vehicle design targets. Although ride comfort has been heavily researched there is still no definite solution to its accurate estimation. This can be attributed, to a large extent, to the subjective nature of the problem. Aim of this study was to ex...
Being able to anticipate upcoming motion is known to potentially mitigate sickness resulting from provocative motion. We investigated whether auditory cues could increase anticipation and subsequently reduce motion sickness. Participants (N = 20) were exposed on a sled on a rail track to two 15-min conditions. Both were identical in terms of motion...
About two in three people have experienced carsickness at some point in their life (Reason & Brand, 1975). Little is known about current numbers of sufferers, cultural differences, or which modulating factors are being perceived as most relevant. Therefore, given a global increase of interest in carsickness driven by the development of automated ve...
Enabled through the advancement of vehicle automation, driverless first and last mile mobility vehicles are emerging through public trials around the world. However, due to the focus on the complex technology, the end users have not yet received sufficient attention. The user requirements in regards to the comfort and user experience in driverless...
Motion sickness is common within many forms of transport; it affects most of the population who experience some symptoms at some time. Automated vehicles (AV) offer productivity benefits but also increased incidence of motion sickness. There are mitigation methods with varying degrees of effectiveness to combating motion sickness. Bone conductive v...
We investigated whether motion sickness analogous to carsickness can be studied in a moving base simulator, despite the limited motion envelope. Importantly, to avoid simulator sickness, vision outside the simulator cabin was restricted. Participants (N = 16) were exposed blindfolded to 15-min lateral sinusoidal motion at 0.2 Hz and 0.35 Hz on sepa...
Motion sickness is common within most forms of transport; it affects most of the population who experience varied symptoms at some stage in their lives. Thus far, there has been no specific method to quantify the predicted levels of motion sickness for a given vehicle design, task and route.
Objective
To develop a motion sickness virtual predictio...
Objective
This study explores the role of anticipation in motion sickness. We compared three conditions varying in motion predictability and assessed the effect of anticipation on subsequent illness ratings using a within-subjects design.
Background
Anticipation is thought to play a role in motion sickness by reducing the discrepancy between sense...
The seat is the largest significant point of interaction with any vehicle, which plays an important role in the overall impression and appeal of that particular vehicle . The concept of automotive seat comfort is regarded a highly subjective and multi-faceted phenomenon where comfort assessment is general-ly held with different tools and scales wit...
The automotive world is currently shifting focus towards electric vehicles (EVs) and the market of connected, autonomous vehicles (CAVs) is steadily growing. Vehicle ride comfort is an attribute which for years now have been a factor which has a significant influence on vehicle development programmes. Due to the complexity of ride comfort, achievin...
This study evaluated the effectiveness and acceptance of four connected vehicle features, i.e. Emergency Electronic Brake Lights (EEBL), Emergency Vehicle Warning (EVW), Roadworks warning (RWW) and Traffic Condition Warning (TCW) which were presented via a mobile phone mounted near the line of sight. A driving simulator study was conducted in which...
BACKGROUND: Motion sickness is common within most forms of transport, it affects most of the population who experience varied symptoms at some stage in their lives. Thus far, there has been no specific method to quantify the predicted levels of motion sickness for a given vehicle design, task and route. OBJECTIVE: To develop a motion sickness virtu...
Abstract: Motion sickness is common within many forms of transport, it affects most of the population who experience some symptoms at some time. Automated Vehicles (AV) offer productivity benefits but also increased incidence of motion sickness. There are mitigation methods with varying degrees of effectiveness to combating motion sickness. Bone Co...
Highlights:-Designs based on existing ISO sign standards to illustrate connected vehicle features, such as Emergency Electronic Brake Lights and Emergency Vehicle Warning, were not always considered the most appropriate by drivers.-Displaying a legend along with the emergency braking and vehicle signs supported drivers' expected responses for the c...
Motion sickness is a persistent problem in many forms of transport. It affects most of the population, is debilitating for the sufferer and can disrupt the journey for the rest. Automated Vehicles (AV’s) offer greater flexibility in cabin design particularly in the future where no physical controls are required. This poses additional risks to passe...
To this day evaluation of both motion sickness and perceived comfort in vehicles has been predominantly based on the acceleration measurements. Introduction of autonomous vehicles forces the automotive industry to shift focus from driver towards passenger comfort. Studies conducted at Coventry University aim at exploring the possible correlation be...
Automated vehicles (AV’s) offer greater flexibility in cabin design particularly in a future where no physical driving controls are required. One common concept for an automated vehicle is to have both forward and rearward facing seats. However, traveling backwards could lead to an increased likelihood of experiencing motion sickness due to the ina...
Vection, i.e. a visually induced illusory sense of self-motion, is assumed to play an essential role in visually induced motion sickness (VIMS). However, its precise role is unknown. Following the sensory conflict theory, a constant state of vection is not expected to lead to a visual-vestibular conflict whereas variability in vection, i.e. change...
A driverless last mile mobility vehicle design, developed based on a theoretical comfort model and user feedback from focus groups, was evaluated with the aid of an ergonomic buck. The evaluation focused on the physical interaction with the interior, analysis of movements within the vehicle cabin, overall cabin dimensions and usability. The trial a...
Carsickness is associated with a mismatch between actual and anticipated sensory signals. Occupants of automated vehicles, especially when using a display, are at higher risk of becoming carsick than drivers of conventional vehicles. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of positioning of in-vehicle displays, and subsequent available peripheral v...
Abstract. The objective of this study, supported by the UK Connected Intelligent Transport Intelligent project (UKCITE), was to evaluate the comprehension levels of four safety-related traffic-warning signs, using videos and questionnaires. These signs could possibly be displayed in drivers’ connected vehicle via nomadic or embedded devices, such a...
The advancement in automated vehicle technology allows for the application in new
fields such as last mile mobility solutions. Whilst still in an early stage, some prototypes have been
built with trials taking place on public roads. The main focus for this kind of vehicle however lies
with proving the feasibility and subsequently the reliability of...
Vehicle automation fundamentally changes the relationship with our vehicles whereby system trust and occupant comfort will become key user requirements. We here explored what information users expect to receive across a wide range of traffic scenarios in urban and peri-urban environments for both highly and fully automated vehicles. Results indicat...
To date, automotive design and research is heavily biased towards the driver. However, with the rapid advance of vehicle automation, the driving task will increasingly being taken over by a machine. Automation by itself, however, will not be able to tackle the transport challenges we are facing and the need for shared mobility is now widely recogni...
Informing a driver of a vehicle’s changing state and environment is a major challenge that grows with the introduction of in-vehicle assistant and infotainment systems. Even in the age of automation, the human will need to be in the loop for monitoring, taking over control, or making decisions. In these cases, poorly designed systems could lead to...
Acceptance of highly and fully automated vehicles will depend on system trust and the ability to comfortably engage in non-driving related tasks (NDRT). We here hypothesize a potential trade-off between the two. The paper describes the development of two UI concepts based on trust factors derived from the literature and benchmarking of current (con...
Abstract Automotive seat comfort has become a major aspect in
differentiation and customisation amongst competitors in a highly
saturated automotive market. Unlike discomfort, the concept of
comfort is regarded a highly subjective and multi-faceted
phenomenon. This paper describes an experimental study to explore
the differences in the perception o...
The automotive industry is facing multiple challenges.
Moving towards more environmentally friendly vehicles, new
models of vehicle ownership, and associated changes in consumers’
expectations and attitudes are amongst the most significant ones.
Understanding how these trends are affecting customers’
expectations is fundamental for attracting and r...
This study for the first time reports the level of motion sickness when engaging in display based non-driving tasks in automated vehicles. Results show that that head down displays can cause motion sickness in no less than 50% of users, whereas incidence levels can be halved by positioning displays in a head up position. However, the incidence leve...
Automation disuse and associated loss of automation benefits may occur if users of automated vehicles experience motion sickness. Compared to conventional vehicles, motion sickness will be of greater concern due to the absence of vehicle control and the anticipated engagement in non-driving tasks. Furthermore, future users are expected to be less t...
This paper discusses the predicted increase in the occurrence and severity of motion sickness in self-driving cars. Self-driving cars have the potential to lead to significant benefits. From the driver's perspective, the direct benefits of this technology are considered increased comfort and productivity. However, we here show that the envisaged sc...
Self-driving cars have the potential to bring significant benefits to drivers and society at large. However, all envisaged scenarios are predicted to increase the risk of motion sickness. This will negatively affect user acceptance and uptake and hence negate the benefits of this technology. Here we discuss the impact of the user interface design i...
Self-driving cars have the potential to bring significant benefits to drivers and society at large. However, all envisaged use cases can be predicted to increase the risk of motion sickness. The relevance of motion sickness lies in the fact that its occurrence may hamper the successful introduction of vehicle automation. Most significantly, signs a...
This paper discusses issues related to the knowledge universities can disseminate to commercial organizations in enterprise-driven ventures. It focuses on the area of automotive design. This industry is challenged with designing small, yet desirable and beautiful vehicles. In response, we present the findings of an empirical study which aimed to ev...
Autonomous vehicles have the potential to radically change the way we use and interact with our cars. Current thinking assumes that drivers will engage in non-driving tasks and, accordingly, future vehicle design may look dramatically different. However, the use cases envisaged are also known to exacerbate the incidence and severity of carsickness....
Rooted in face-to-face teaching, the ‘top-down’ master-apprentice model is the dominant pedagogical approach in design education. Through reflecting on the results from two case studies, we discuss possible advantages and limitations of extending the master-apprentice model to asynchronous Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) with regards two overa...
Automotive seat comfort is becoming one of the major aspects in distinguishing companies from their competitors. We here explored the role of the visual appearance of automotive seats in the perception of initial seat comfort. Unlike discomfort, the concept of comfort is regarded a highly subjective and multi-faceted phenomenon. This paper addresse...
This chapter provides an overview of Human Factors issues relevant to the acceptance by drivers of technology-based systems within vehicles. A distinction is made between issues relevant to systems providing information to support driving-related tasks (e.g. navigation), systems that provide some degree of control-based assistance (e.g. Adaptive Cr...
This chapter provides an overview of Human Factors issues relevant to the acceptance by drivers of technology-based systems within vehicles. A distinction is made between issues relevant to systems providing information to support driving-related tasks (e.g., navigation), systems that provide some degree of control-based assistance (e.g., Adaptive...
The aim of this study was to explore the frequency response of visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) for oscillating linear motion in the fore-and-aft axis.
Simulators, virtual environments, and commercially available video games that create an illusion of self-motion are often reported to induce the symptoms seen in response to true motion. Ofte...
Abstract: Electronically coupled platoons of vehicles have the potential to increase the efficiency of transport on unmodified motorways. In doing so, the time headway (THW) between participating vehicles will be dramatically reduced. The present study investigated whether drivers are willing to keep a THW smaller than their preferred one to confor...
The aim of this study was to disentangle two concepts that are often confounded in driving and ergonomics research: preferred and adopted time headway (THW). It is argued that preferredTHW represents a range of THWs drivers feel safe and comfortable with. In contrast, the adopted THW is the THW that drivers indeed adopt in a certain driving situati...
Abstract: Current trends in automotive technology allow for radical changes in vehicle design. Electric powertrains, drive-by-wire technology, new materials, and increasing levels of driver assistance, expected to ultimately lead to fully autonomous vehicles, will lift the mechanical and safety constraints that to this date have defined the shape a...
Dynamic driving styles, involving high acceleration, heavy braking, close following, overtaking and aggressive manoeuvres, involve high fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and are also less safe than slower, smoother driving styles. Yet dynamic driving styles are common: efforts to encourage safer, smoother, more efficient driving tend to have limi...
The majority of studies into visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) either use complex motion scenarios or are limited to single-axis motion. This study compared VIMS during single- and dual-axis motion. Twelve participants were exposed to (i) oscillating roll motion, (ii) linear motion in the fore-and-aft axis, and (iii) spiral motion, i.e. the s...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of the Tactile Detection Task (TDT) to
assess cognitive workload as a function of driving task demand and
cognitive loading. The TDT measures participants’ response
time to a series of tactile stimuli which are presented at a
random rate via a tactor attached to the shoulder. Using the TRL drivi...
The use of driving simulator technology is predicated on the assumption that behaviour in the simulator can be generalised to behaviour in reality, also known as simulator validity. This paper describes the results of a first in a series of validation studies in which real driving is compared to simulated driving using the TRL driving simulator Dig...
Abstract. 1. Objective: To investigate the relative levels of impairment to driving performance caused by a range of different potential distractors that drivers may encounter when performing the typical driving duties of European drivers. 2. Background: A driver‟s mental state can affect vehicle control. This is understood for known impairments su...
In driving simulators and other virtual reality systems, visual speed is frequently underestimated leading to
speed overproduction. This, in turn, may compromise the validity of human behaviour in these environments. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of improving speed perception in a driving simulator by manipulating the Geo...