carwe77

Carl Westin

Assistant Professor

What is it doing? Why is it doing that? What happened now? My research focuses on how operators interact and understand automation and how we can design automation to improve human-automation collaboration.

Human factors research on human-automation collaboration in safety-critical working environments

We are becoming increasingly dependent on automation in our profession and private life. In parallel, automation is growing more capable and complex, making it increasingly more difficult to understand. Issues of misunderstanding and mistrust of automation are particular concerns in safety-critical working environments where human operators supervise the automation and are required to assume control if needed (e.g., aviation, maritime, rail, road, and process industry). As a Human Factors (ergonomics) researcher, my mission lies in studying the physiological and psychological interaction between humans and automation and designing automation that better supports the collaboration between humans and automation. The goal is to enhance safety, improve comfort, increase efficiency, and reduce breakdowns between humans and automation.

My main research interests center on empirical studies in safety-critical transportation domains, such as flight decks, air traffic control, and maritime operations. My focus has been on understanding the relationship between humans and machines from the perspective of human behavior and cognition and exploring automation designs that work in symbiosis with humans while supporting safety and efficiency. I am particularly interested in personalized automation (i.e., strategic conformal automation), transparent automation, and solutions to applying eye-tracking technologies in active operations and simulator training.

For thirteen years, I have combined the role of an academic researcher and a commercial pilot.

More information about my research and academic profile can be found on:

Publications

2025

Carl Westin, Jonas Lundberg (2025) A survey on Swedish maritime pilots' trust, training, understanding, and use of the portable pilot unit's predictor automation Cognition, Technology & Work (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Kostiantyn Kucher, Elmira Zohrevandi, Carl Westin (2025) Towards Visual Analytics for Explainable AI in Industrial Applications Analytics, Vol. 4, Article 7 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

Elmira Zohrevandi, Katerina Vrotsou, Carl Westin, Jonas Lundberg, Anders Ynnerman (2024) Design of a Real-Time Visual Analytics Decision Support Interface to Manage Air Traffic Complexity

2023

Matteo Cocchiono, Stefano Bonelli, Carl Westin, Ana Ferreira, Nicola Cavagnetto (2023) Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence in Air Traffic Management: a contribution to EASA strategy
Vanessa Rodrigues, Carl Westin, Stefan Holmlid (Editorship) (2023) This space intentionally left [blank]

Education

PhD in Human Factors, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, 2017


MSc in Applied Ergonomics, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom,
2012

Air Traffic Pilot - University diploma. School of aviation, Lund University, Sweden, 2006

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