Apple's Innovative iPhone Feature For Cars Is Coming To The Mac Soon
Vehicle Motion Cues is the name for an accessibility feature for the iPhone to help dissipate motion sickness. This year, it's coming to the Mac, so it could help you work on your laptop as you drive without feeling nauseous.
Vehicle Motion Cues coming to the Mac this year.
The new feature was revealed by Apple on Tuesday, May 13, as part of its celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (which is Thursday, May 15, this year).
The original version was announced in May 2024 and arrived in iOS 18. I simply can't read anything when I'm a passenger in a car without feeling sick almost immediately (and there's a different but obvious reason why I don't do it when I'm driving). This feature was designed to help.
Apple explained at the time, 'Research shows that motion sickness is commonly caused by a sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel, which can prevent some users from comfortably using iPhone or iPad while riding in a moving vehicle,' the company said.
The solution was Vehicle Motion Cues which puts animated dots on the screen edges to represent changes in vehicle motion, designed to reduce this sensory conflict. The iPhone recognizes when you're in a moving vehicle and responds automatically. Apple has an animated version of this here.
This year, Apple has announced that it will come to the Mac as well — which almost certainly means the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro as you're unlikely to be working on an iMac in your car, aren't you?
This time, Vehicle Motion Cues will come to Mac, alongside new ways to customize the animated onscreen dots on the iPhone and iPad, as well as the Mac.
There were so many accessibility updates announced by Apple (details and analysis of the big hitters can be found here) that the new Vehicle Motion Cues was a long way down the extensive list.
This also includes two more motion-oriented changes: support for large text for CarPlay, and updates to Sound Recognition so a driver or passenger with low hearing can be notified of the sound of a crying baby in the car, as well as horns or sirens outside the vehicle.
Apple hasn't specified exactly when these updates will land, just that they'll be this year.
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