Pascal Jansen

Pascal Jansen

Hi 👋︎     I'm Pascal Jansen

PhD candidate and Research Associate in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) at the Institute of Media Informatics, Ulm University.


My research agenda is calibrated human-AI interaction
– I develop and study adaptive interfaces that keep each person’s experience within a range appropriate to that person and to what AI systems can deliver, and that help people adapt as these systems grow more capable.

CV in Email
  • Received Open Data Award at AutomotiveUI 2026 in Gothenburg, Sweden, for Effects of Auditory Information for People With Visual Impairments in Highly Automated Vehicles (link).
  • Submitted my PhD thesis, Toward Computational Human-Vehicle Interaction Design: From Design-Problem Formulation to Human-in-the-Loop Optimization.
  • Joined the CHI 2027 program committee as Associate Chair.
  • Paper conditionally accepted at UIST 2026 (led by Max Rädler) – MoTUI: Personalization of In-Vehicle Tactile Interfaces for People With Vision Impairments and the Blind (link).
  • Two papers conditionally accepted at AutomotiveUI 2026: Multi-Session User Experience Assessments of Computationally Optimized Automated Vehicle Functionality Visualizations (link) and Effects of Auditory Information for People With Visual Impairments in Highly Automated Vehicles (link).
  • Two papers conditionally accepted in PACM IMWUT: Comparing Preferences Between Japan and Germany for External Communication of Automated Vehicles Using Bayesian Optimization (link) and BlurDriving: Investigating How Personalized Blur Techniques Impact Drivers’ Performance in Virtual Reality (link).
  • Presented our latest automotive user interface research to broad public audiences at the Langer Abend der Wissenschaft 2026 (Long Evening of Science) at Ulm University.
  • Session Chair at CHI 2026: Context-aware Interfaces for Mobility & Automation.
  • Guest lecture From One-Size-Fits-All to Preference-Based Interactions with Technology and research visit at UCL Interaction Centre, UK.
  • Joined the Program Committee of CHIWORK '26 as Senior Member.
  • Joined the Best Paper Award Committee for CHI '26.
  • At CHI '26, three papers led or co-authored were conditionally accepted, spanning mediated reality techniques in automotive settings and adaptive user interfaces for future mobility.
  • Joined the Distinguished Reviewer Board for ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), which acknowledges sustained high-quality, timely, and constructive peer review contributions to the HCI community.
  • Joined the organizing committee of MuC 2026 as Student Research Competition Chair.
  • Received Honorable Mention Award at MUM 2025 for AirClick: Modularized Interactive Inflatables for On-Demand Room Transformation.
  • Paper accepted at MUM 2025 – AirClick: Modularized Interactive Inflatables for On-Demand Room Transformation (link).
  • Joined the CHI 2026 program committee as Associate Chair in the User Experience and Usability subcommittee.
  • Paper accepted at IEEE RO-MAN 2025 (led by Maren Raab) – Assessing Pedestrian Behavior Around Autonomous Cleaning Robots in Public Spaces: Findings from a Field Observation (link).
  • Co-organized a workshop, Accessible Automated Automotive Workshop Series (A3WS): Accessibility in Mobility (link), and a tutorial, Human-in-the-Loop Bayesian Optimization for ALL: Practical Applications in Human-Computer Interaction Challenges (link), at MuC 2025 in Chemnitz, Germany.
  • Released v1.1.0 of Bayesian Optimization for Unity, enabling a streamlined HITL workflow with Bayesian optimization (via BoTorch) to personalize designs.
  • At the Long Evening of Science at Ulm University, presented novel human-vehicle interaction research to more than 2,000 visitors, including prospective students and families.
  • Transportation Research Part F paper accepted: Longitudinal Effects of Visualizing Uncertainty of Situation Detection and Prediction of Automated Vehicles (AVs) on User Perceptions (link). A three-day study with 50 participants viewing real-world commute videos twice daily showed that clear, consistent AV uncertainty visualizations significantly increased trust over time while revealing the need for explicit AV intent cues and manual intervention options.
  • OptiCarVis received an Honorable Mention Award at CHI '25 in Yokohama, Japan.
  • At CHI '25, five papers led or co-authored were published, spanning sustainability, the impact of motion on interaction quality, and adaptive user interfaces for future mobility.
  • Delivered the laudatio for Mark Colley at the SIGCHI Awards Dinner, honoring his Special Recognition for Early Career Researcher Award.
  • Two papers published at HRI '25 in Melbourne, Australia: HUD-SUMO, linking SUMO and CARLA to simulate AR HUD settings and predict their impact on reaction time, speed adherence, lane changes, and acceleration; and UAM-SUMO, extending SUMO to model urban air taxi corridors alongside ground vehicles for large-scale studies of traffic flow, mode choice, and passenger trust.
  • At the Bildungsmesse Ulm 2025, the VeMoR simulator attracted many prospective students interested in high-immersion motion feedback in a safe, lab environment. The speaker of the Baden-Wurttemberg parliament and Ulm's Mayor visited the booth.
  • Started as a visiting researcher at the UCL Interaction Centre in London, UK, hosted by Mark Colley.
  • At the Long Evening of Science Fair at Ulm University, showcased VeMoR, a VR vehicle-motion simulator enabling roll, pitch, and yaw synchronization to the virtual vehicle to bridge the gap between static lab setups and expensive full-motion rigs. Presented future mobility research to over 2,000 visitors.
  • Transportation Research Part F paper accepted: Visualizing Imperfect Situation Detection and Prediction in Automated Vehicles: Understanding Users' Perceptions via User-Chosen Scenarios (link). EduLicit, a web-based platform, elicits public "challenging AV scenarios" and evaluates how visualizing an AV's perception, prediction, and planning influences user acceptance.
  • The Social Engineer launched on Steam – a room-scale VR serious game for practicing social-engineering defense strategies.
  • PedSUMO accepted at HRI '24, a SUMO extension simulating pedestrian interactions at unsignalized crossings to study how external AV signals affect large-scale pedestrian compliance (code on GitHub).
  • Registration Chair at AutoUI '23 in Ingolstadt, overseeing online and on-site registration and coordinating with ACM on organization and budgeting.
  • First-author CHI '23 paper: AutoVis: Enabling Mixed-Immersive Analysis of Automotive UI Interaction Studies (link). AutoVis combines desktop and VR views with automotive-specific visualizations (context portals, driving-path events, avatars, trajectories, heatmaps), guided by expert requirements and validated on real and public datasets (demo).

publications