The CIAO team believes that the design, development, and evaluation of intelligent mobile devices (including cars) is not yet human-centered enough. Consequently, this leads to decisions that are detached from customer needs and real-world problems. The junior research group “Computational Interaction and Mobility” aims to rethink the current design process. They believe that data-driven insights and machine learning-based user modeling must be an integral part of the product development and evaluation process. Only by doing so, one can account for the variety of individual and contextual factors. As a result, one can build systems that are easy and safe to use for all users in all situations.

The group aims to contribute to a better understanding of how people interact with intelligent mobile interfaces and transportation systems. It focuses on the development of new data-driven user models and evaluation methods based on (1) supervised machine learning and (2) the theory of computational rationality and reinforcement learning.

Find more about the group here!

Projects

As a recently formed group, the junior research group “Computational Interaction and Mobility” does not have any ongoing third-party funded projects. However, they are actively seeking collaborations. The group is interested in working with automotive OEMs, building on previous successful collaborations within the automotive industry. Furthermore, the researchers believe that the data collected by automotive OEMs, combined with their expertise, can advance data-driven decision making in the automotive user interface design process. Also, team sees great potential for applying these models to the design of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition, the group has an explicit interest in reinforcement learning models and the theory of computational rationality.

Team

Lead

The junior research group leader, Patrick Ebel, joined ScaDS.AI Leipzig on July 1st, 2023. Ebel studied mechatronics in Karlsruhe for his bachelor’s degree and automotive systems with a focus on machine learning in Berlin for his master’s degree. He started his PhD in Computer Science at the TU Berlin and finished it at the University of Cologne.

Previously, Ebel worked with Professor Andreas Vogelsang at the University of Cologne in the Software and Systems Engineering Department. In 2023, Ebel defended his dissertation “Data-Driven Evaluation of In-Vehicle Information Systems” with summa cum laude. For one of his papers, Ebel received the Early Career Best Paper Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Europe. In 2019, Ebel placed 4th in the research competition “Forum junge Spitzenforscher”. He is also involved in the organization of the ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications.

Ebel’s research area is concentrated at the intersection of machine learning and human-computer interaction. The main goal is to develop computational models that simulate human-like interaction behaviour. Currently, the focus of his work is on the interaction between drivers and other road users with (semi-)automated cars.

Team Members

Publications

You can find the publications by Patrick Ebel and his group here.