Dr. Andreas Löcken  

About Me

Born in the late '80s, I had the opportunity to try many sh*tty computer interfaces, especially in the early days of the internet. As I am fascinated by computers and like to help, I have always wanted to reduce the frustration and access barriers of users, especially those who are not technologically savvy. During my computer science studies, I got to know Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and was convinced that I wanted to focus on it.

Before I did my master's degree, most of my software projects were focused on websites or intuitive user interfaces. For my master thesis, I also had to consider safety-critical requirements and how to use ambient displays to convey information without distracting users from their primary tasks. After my studies, I joined the Human-Computer Interaction group of the University of Oldenburg and OFFIS under the lead of Susanne Boll and Wilko Heuten. I started to focus on the automotive domain in my dissertation, and since then, I have been working on usable user interfaces for potentially safety-critical systems.

I received my doctoral degree from the University of Oldenburg in Germany in 2019. My dissertation dealt with the topic of designing and evaluating in-vehicle ambient light displays to support drivers and was supervised by Susanne Boll. My goal was to unobtrusively display information to drivers in order to enhance safety and comfort without disrupting them from their primary task of driving. I designed, developed, and evaluated such displays with prototypes at different levels of fidelity and in driving simulator studies. This chapter on Ambient In-Vehicle Displays also gives a good overview of challenges and future directions.

In 2018, I joined Andreas Riener's Human-Computer Interaction Group at the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. My research there mostly concerned the interaction between humans and automated vehicles. I specifically focused on vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians or cyclists, and the passengers of self-driving cars. Within the scope of the two-year research projects SAVe and SAVeNoW, I explored and evaluated interaction concepts in virtual reality and real-life.

In 2024, I took the role of Director for User and Market Research at Spiegel Institut. With my team, I continue to analyze human-computer interactions and more elements that may impact User Exerience or other factors important to our clients. Although I can't publish as much anymore, I enjoy using the whole range of our research toolbox: from rapid, qualitative user tests that need to be reported until the end of the day to complex multi-country user studies running over several weeks.

During my career, my co-authors and I published more than 60 papers across international conferences, in journals, as book chapters, posters, position papers, etc. These works were cited more often than 1500 times. I co-organized more than 15 scientific events, like the AutomotiveUI conference, international workshops, and tutorials. Also I taught in more than 25 courses at the University of Oldenburg and Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt and co-supervised more than 8 bachelor and mastert theses.