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The emergence of the level 3 automated vehicles (L3 AVs) can enable drivers to be completely disengaged from driving and safely perform other non-driving related tasks, but sometimes their takeover of control of the vehicle is required. The takeover of control is an important human–machine interaction in L3 AVs. However, little research has focused on investigating the effect of gender on takeover performance. In order to fill this research gap, a driving simulator study with 76 drivers (33 females and 43 males) was conducted. The participants took over control from L3 AVs, and the timing and quality of takeover were measured. The results show that although there was no significant difference in most of the measurements adopted to quantify takeover performance between female and male. Gender did affect takeover performance slightly, with women exhibited slightly better performance than men. Compared to men, women exhibited a smaller percentage of hasty takeovers and slightly faster reaction times as well as slightly more stable operation of the steering wheel. The findings highlight that it is important for both genders to recognise they can use and interact with L3 AVs well, and more hands-on experience and teaching sessions could be provided to deepen their understanding of L3 AVs. The design of the car interiors of L3 AVs should also take into account gender differences in the preferences of users for different non-driving related tasks.

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Warning system for pedestrians (WSP), one of cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) applications, is designed to increase safety for pedestrians but also for drivers and other road users. The evaluation of end-user acceptance and perceptions of this technology is crucial before deploying it in transportation systems. Five WSP human–machine interfaces (HMIs) were designed and simulated using a driver’s first-view video footage of driving through a pedestrian crossing in Newcastle upon Tyne. The five WSP designs were evaluated with 24 younger end users (35 years old and younger). This study first evaluated the usefulness of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) in modelling end-user acceptance in terms of behavioural intentions to use WSP. The results suggest that the UTAUT can be applied to investigate the end-user acceptance of WSP, with performance expectancy and effort expectancy influencing the behavioural intentions to use WSP. Furthermore, we investigated end-user attitudes towards various WSP human–machine interface (HMI) designs. Participants showed more positive attitudes towards visual-only interfaces than towards audio-only and multi-modal (combinations of visual and audio) interfaces. Above all, the findings of this research increase our understanding of public acceptance and perceptions of this C-ITS application.