For iOS users who experience nausea when attempting to use their phone or tablet while driving, Apple has introduced new accessibility options. The company states that a sensory conflict occurs when a person perceives dissonance between their tactile and visual senses. To combat this issue, the tech giant will introduce Vehicle Motion Cues, a new feature for iPhones and iPads that can reduce motion sickness among drivers. The blog post states that these new accessibility features will be accessible later this year.
Apple Adds Vehicle Motion Cues feature
Apple announced in a blog post that the new Vehicle Motion Cues feature is designed to reduce sensory conflict without disrupting the primary content on the screen. This innovative feature employs animated dots along the edges of the display to represent changes in vehicle motion. By subtly indicating the vehicle’s movement through these animations, the feature helps users synchronize their visual and vestibular systems, thereby mitigating feelings of motion sickness often experienced when using devices in moving vehicles.
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The animated dots provide a peripheral reference to the vehicle’s dynamics, such as acceleration, deceleration, and turns, ensuring that users’ visual focus remains on the main content without distraction. This thoughtful integration of motion cues into the user interface underscores Apple’s commitment to enhancing user comfort and experience, especially in dynamic environments.
Eye Tracking
The IT behemoth is demonstrating its continued commitment to accessibility by incorporating features for people with disabilities alongside the Vehicle Motion Cues tool. One is eye tracking, which lets users use their eyes alone to navigate, scroll, and access features like physical buttons, swipes, and other motions on their iPhone or iPad.
Additional Features
Additional features include colour filters, sound recognition in CarPlay, support for complex words and custom vocabularies, and voice shortcuts for even more hands-free operation. These features allow drivers and passengers who are hard of hearing or deaf to be notified when car horns and sirens sound.
Music Haptic Feature by Apple
Additionally, Apple has included a new Music Haptic feature in the iPhone that enables people who are hard of hearing or deaf to enjoy music. “The Taptic Engine in the iPhone plays taps, refined vibrations, and textures to the audio of the music,” according to Apple when this accessibility feature is activated.
