In a highly autonomous vehicle (HAV), the rotatable seat is likely to be designed to facilitate ease of communication between the occupants. We hypothesise that the protective effects of current restraint systems vary among different seating configurations and that by using the rotational seat to alter the occupant’s orientation in accordance with the direction of impact, occupants will be better protected. Moreover, in a HAV it’s likely that an imminent impact could be detected at a time of 200 ms, or even longer, prior to the initial contact. The availability of this additional time could be used strategically to actively position the occupants into a safer position for impact.

Finite element simulations were performed using the THUMSTM model to test the hypothesis. The simulation results indicated that during a frontal impact, the backward‐facing occupant is safer than occupants in other seating orientations. Moreover, 200 ms is sufficient to rotate the occupant by ±45⁰ without introducing additional injuries. Further studies are needed to optimise the rotating seat parameters in order to maintain occupant posture and improve crash safety in HAVs.