# Take-Over Time: A Cross-Cultural Study of Take-Over Responses in Highly Automated Driving
## 5 Conclusions  
The effects associated with highly automated driving are both positive and negative. The shift from manual to highly automated driving changes the role and behavior of drivers, as they no longer need to constantly monitor the road. In several studies, drivers reported reduced perceived workload associated with driving and increased subjective safety and trust in the system [3; 20; 21]. As a result, drivers are more likely to engage in non-driving tasks, which in turn may affect their situational awareness and performance in critical situations, leading to increased time responses to TORs [4; 9; 21]. The presented study investigated the take-over responses and secondary task engagement of drivers from two culturally different locations, namely Seattle, WA, and Ljubljana, Slovenia. The main objective of the study was to identify possible differences in driver behavior in the two locations. Significant differences were found between the two locations in terms of take-over time and type of response type at TOR. On average, the US participants responded significantly more slowly to TOR, as compared to the Slovenian participants. Secondary task engagement at TOR also affected take-over time, with significantly longer take-over responses among distracted US participants. In addition, 30% of US participants did not respond to TOR, in contrast to Slovenian participants, all of whom responded. The remainder of the US participants responded to TOR only by braking, whereas the Slovenian participants responded by either braking or steering. The differences in take-over performance between the two locations could indicate greater trust in automated driving among US participants. In addition, the differences in responses to TOR could also indicate cultural differences in driving behavior between the United States and Slovenia. Because TOR performance is an important evaluation measure of driving safety, potential cultural effects on TOR could have important implications for future development of automated vehicles. Conceptualization, G.S., E.E.M., L.N.B. and J.S. ; methodology, G.S., Y.X., L.N.B. and J.S. ; formal analysis, G.S., Y.X. and L.N.B. ; investigation, E.E.M., L.N.B. and J.S. ; resources, E.E.M., L.N.B. and J.S. ; data curation, G.S. and Y.X. ; writing--original draft preparation, G.S. ; writing--review and editing, G.S., L.N.B. and J.S. ; visualization, G.S. ; funding acquisition, E.E.M., L.N.B. and J.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency within the research program P2-0246, research project L2-8178, and bilateral project BI-US/18-19-086. The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee. Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. References  
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