Noncritical State Transitions During Conditionally Automated Driving on German Freeways: Effects of Non-Driving Related Tasks on Takeover Time and Takeover Quality.

Objective: This study aimed at investigating the driver's takeover performance when switching from working on different non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) while driving with a conditionally automated driving function (SAE L3), which was simulated by a Wizard of Oz vehicle, to manual vehicle control under naturalistic driving conditions.

Background: Conditionally automated driving systems, which are currently close to market introduction, require the user to stay fallback ready. As users will be allowed to engage in more complex NDRTs during the automated drive than when driving manually, the time needed to regain full manual control could likely be increased.