1. They may want to introduce change gradually.

2. They’re probably well aware of the ample research into motion sickness. Not being able to see the direction of travel appears to increase the risk of symptoms for many.

Sample citations (you can find many more via a Google Scholar search):

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cyriel_Diels/publicatio...

https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/39135666/Die...

I don't disagree, but this was a cheap way to reuse existing R&D, like the front airbags specifically mentioned in the article.

Every now and then, various concepts come out with a cabin that has two rows of seats facing each other. These would require a much more radical (and expensive) redesign, and it may not even pass a baseline required by contemporary regulations without additional back-and-forth.

Because it's a variation on the Bolt, which isn't designed to accomodate that. GM and most other OEM's have a variety of concepts for vehicles designed as robotaxis from the ground up, but they're all several years out.

Although the busses in my city don't have rear facing seats either, they exasperate motion sickness in some people.

Zoox is building a bi-directional robotaxi that has no front or rear, it goes both ways the same. All four wheels have independent steering and motors. It would be too weird for a human to control manually at all.