# Sven Krome, PhD > Product, UX & Human Factors | Ex-Waymo & Uber Location: United States, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/svenkromephd Strategic UX & human factors leader with 10+ years experience driving innovation in autonomous systems, AI, and multimodal interfaces. Recognized with 19 U.S. patents & 300+ citations, pioneering best practices in UX research and user-centered design. Proven ability to bridge research, engineering, and regulatory requirements, delivering market-defining UX innovations. ## Work Experience ### Staff Design Researcher @ Samsung Electronics Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Established a multimodal interaction concept for the Ballie home robot, defining end-to-end flows, system behaviors, and failure-recovery patterns across voice, vision, and on-device cues. Designed and assessed size-agnostic AI TV experiences across screen sizes and viewing distances, creating responsive information architecture and interaction patterns that remain consistent and legible. ### Staff UX Researcher @ Xperi Inc. Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco Bay Area Researched and defined ad-tolerance metrics for home and automotive entertainment, enabling scalable ad-based business models (TiVo & AutoStage). Partnered with product and engineering teams to translate automotive UX insights into actionable roadmap features. ### Sr. User Experience Researcher @ Waymo Jan 2020 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco Bay Area Led UX and human factors research for an autonomous ride-hailing service in San Francisco and Phoenix, establishing safety and scalability benchmarks that informed deployment strategies. Directed mixed-method research for emerging technology initiatives, leading to the successful rollout of a safe exit feature and tertiary communication systems (eHMIs). These innovations improved user trust, enhanced accessibility, and played a critical role in securing regulatory approvals. Guided the UX of internal tools, driving efficiency in triage and debugging of autonomous driving technologies. ### Sr. User Experience Researcher, ATG @ Uber Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Greater Pittsburgh Area I oversaw the planning and coordination of on-road research, evaluated rider and automotive interfaces, and developed a standardized research instrument that allowed scalable on-road data collection to generate actionable insights on the impact of vehicle motion on the rider experience. Additionally, I conducted usability assessments and design research of on-board applications to ensure a user-friendly and desirable implementation. ### Postdoctoral Researcher @ Cornell Tech Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Greater New York City Area Exploration of simulator environments that allow the exploration of first-person perspectives of autonomous intersections and advanced traffic models in general (publication accepted at AutoUI 2019). Design and validation of PUEVA, a diagnostic tool for evaluating joyful experiences with voice agents (publication in process). ### Interaction Designer, Automotive @ HERE Technologies Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | Berlin Area, Germany Led the UX for HERE indoor parking, overseeing research, design, and prototyping of the world's first indoor navigation system. Developed user journeys, flows, and interface concepts for the navigation systems of premium OEMs. ### PhD Research Scholar / UX of Autonomous Driving @ AUDI AG Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 | Melbourne, Australia / Ingolstadt, Germany Doctoral research on novel non-driving activities for safe and pleasurable autonomous driving experiences of the future. Industry evaluation and integration of research prototypes into pre-production contexts. PhD Thesis completion. ### Founder / Product Management @ Eye-Track-Me Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | New York City Concept, design and developement of Eye-Track-Me. Take responsibility for your eyes and track your vision with a simple eye-sight test. ### Product Designer (contract) @ Babbel Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 Development of Open Graph concept. Design of goal, trigger and reward elements. ### Interaction Designer @ Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Berlin Area, Germany Concept and design of Speaker-App for Berlin Symposium 2011. An innovative speeker management application that enabled the conference attendees to register and reserve speech time via simple QR code scanning. ### Tutor Interaction Design @ Universität der Künste Berlin Jan 2008 – Jan 2010 - Research assistant to Prof. Klaus Gasteier in the fields of Interface-design, metadata, digital strategies - Technical concept and implementation of initial "Metadating" Research Project (http://meta-dating.net/) - Supervision and support of student groups - Webmaster of seminar blog platform ### Intern rich media design @ bytepark GmbH Jan 2008 – Jan 2008 | Berlin Design and programming of interactive banner ads and virtual ticket selections tools for the Track and Field World Championship in Berlin 2009. ## Education ### Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) RMIT University ### Master of Arts (M.A.) in Communication and Media Studies Universität der Künste Berlin ### Digital Cultures and Media Design UNSW ### Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Strategic Communication and Planning Universität der Künste Berlin ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/svenkrome - Portfolio: http://svenkrome.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/svenkromephd JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/svenkromephd/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13