Google could be rolling out a new feature to prevent vehicle sickness

According to a report, Google may be developing a new feature to address possible motion sickness when using Android smartphones in vehicles during public transportation. It is said to have been discovered during an APK teardown of the latest version of the Google Play Services app. While third-party apps to prevent motion sickness are available on the Google Play Store, it is speculated that Google’s in-development Motion Cues feature will introduce native support to combat this problem.

Google’s Motion Cues feature for Android

In one reportAndroid Authority, working with tipster Assemble Debug, found references to the Motion Cues feature in the Google Play Services beta app, version 24.29.32. The publication managed to activate the feature. Shared screenshots suggest that once enabled it will show visual cues to reduce motion sickness.

Google’s developing Motion Cues feature
Photo credit: Gather Debug/Android Authority

Users will also reportedly have the choice to enable the feature automatically and the visual cues will automatically appear on the screen when driving is detected. The accompanying video in the report shows it in action. Once enabled, visual cues appear on the screen moving in the same direction as the vehicle’s movement, eliminating the mismatch in the signals sent to the brain by the user’s ears and eyes.

According to the report, the motion signals will appear as a tile in the quick settings window. However, it reportedly requires the Display above other apps permission to work. The report further claims that the feature is not currently live, even with the latest version of Google Play Services. So there is a possibility that its rollout could take some time.

Notably, Apple introduced a similar feature with iOS 18. Dubbed Show vehicle movement signalsit shows dots along the edges of the iPhone screen that mimic the vehicle’s movement to reduce motion sickness. It is disabled by default and can be enabled or set to automatic.