PhD on connected data automated vehicles & road users for more traffic safety

PhD on connected data automated vehicles & road users for more traffic safety
PhD on connected data automated vehicles & road users for more traffic safety

Published	Deadline	Location
today	4 Dec	Eindhoven

Job description
More than 1,350,000 people die in traffic every year. Automated vehicles (AVs) are expected to improve road safety. However, a challenge is that future traffic will be mixed, with AVs, vulnerable road users (VRUs), such as pedestrians and cyclists and motorcyclists, and manually-driven cars sharing the roads and pursuing conflicting interests. Also, AVs will have different forms, differing in capabilities, driving speed, operational design domain (ODD) and technological capabilities. Also, some vehicles may be privately owned, offering the driver to sometimes drive in AV-mode, or maybe another form of automated transport, such as robotaxis or automated shuttles, where the user is not the owner.
It is not clear how AVs can assess VRU’s situation awareness (SA). According to the theory of Distributed Situation Awareness (DSA), safety arises through shared knowledge of the collective. However, no mechanism exists for assessing DSA in complex traffic, as DSA misses multidirectional information exchange between multiple agents, and the theory has not been tested in complex and connected traffic. Also, current empirical research on AV-VRU interactions focuses on either sending or receiving data, instead of multidirectional exchange. It is unknown how an AV should adapt to the knowledge provided by multiple vehicles and VRUs with different SA.
The aim of this PhD project will be to update DSA with the multidirectional exchange between multiple agents. A computational system will be developed to intelligently decide how to distribute SA. Together with other colleagues in the Future Everyday group of Industrial Design, you will explore how multiple AVs can communicate with multiple other road users (includingVRUs) and investigate how AVs can ensure that the conveyed information is compatible with the behaviour of other road users.
You will develop further the coupled simulator for human factors research (https://github.com/bazilinskyy/coupled-sim ). With help of the simulator, the candidate will conduct experiments, where multiple participants will meet and interact in the same virtual world. Through simulator and on-road experiments, the candidate will investigate how AVs can assess road users’ SA from movements and posture, communicated through connected portable sensors (equipped on AVs, cars and VRUs) and explore mechanisms of assessing SA.
The results of the project will be used by automotive manufacturers and governments to coordinate the actions of future traffic participants. There will be close interaction with other researchers at the Department of Industrial Design and with the industry. There will be opportunities to conduct joint experiments with other PhD candidates. The candidate will work very closely with Dr. Bazilinskyy, who has a background in Computer Science and Human Factors. It is a challenging technical project that promises to revolutionise the field of Human Factors of automated driving. If you’re an ambitious person who’s not afraid of tackling a complicated challenge, this is the project for you!
Specifications

• max. 38 hours per week
• Eindhoven View on Google Maps

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

Requirements
The department of industrial design of the TU/e is looking to hire a candidate with expertise in software development and AI, and strong motivation to work in the domain of human factors of automated driving. The candidate should have (and will develop further in this project) strong professional and communication skills in order to work together with partners in a multi-national and multi-disciplinary research team. The following lists additional requirements.
The candidate has:

• Experience with Unity and C.
• Experience with the design and development of multiplayer games and/or multi-agent simulations.
• Experience with IoT.
• Experience with the development of complex IT projects.
• Completed a Master’s in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Transportation, AI or has a mixed educational background.
• Desire to share gathered knowledge with society through peer-reviewed journal and conference publications.
• Willingness to practise the principles of open science, keep code open-source, and share all (anonymised) data.
• Excellent communication skills, including a fluent command of English. Knowledge of Dutch is welcomed, but not strictly required.

Conditions of employment
A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process .
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children’s day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.

Additional information
About TU/e, Industrial Design and Future Everyday
You will be situated in the Future Everyday group, which investigates the everyday interactions between individual people and the highly interconnected technology that surrounds them. We measure, model, and design for the user experience when individuals interact with social-technological networks in their homes, at work, in transit, while doing sports, or going out. 
TU/e is a leading international university specializing in Engineering Science & Technology. With high-quality education and research, TU/e ensures the progress of technical sciences and the development of technological innovations. TU/e is located in a highly industrialized region in the Netherlands, known as the ‘Brainport’. This region is internationally recognized as a top technology area with a special focus on the integration of design and technology. The department of Industrial Design at TU/e is internationally recognized for its scientific research on the design of systems with emerging technologies in a societal context. We excel at the acquisition and execution of projects where ‘integration of emerging technology into everyday life’ and ‘application of technology in a societal context’ play a major role. The Future Everyday research group investigates the everyday interactions between people and the highly interconnected technology that surrounds them. 
 General information about TU/e and the Industrial Design Department, candidates will find on https://www.tue.nl/en .
Information
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more about this project and position?
Please contact the hiring manager Pavlo Bazilinskyy (p.bazilinskyy[at]tue.nl).
Visit our website for more information about the application process or the conditions of employment. You can also contact HR Services Industrial Design, email: HR-IndustrialDesign[at]tue.nl.
Are you inspired and would like to know more about working at TU/e? Please visit our career page
Application
We invite you to submit a complete application by using “apply now” button via this link before 4 December 2022. The application should include a:

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references.
• Portfolio of past IT projects with links to source code (when possible).
• Brief description of your MSc thesis.

We look forward to receiving your application and will screen it as soon as possible. The vacancy will remain open until the position is filled.
You can upload a maximum of 5 documents of up to 2MB each. Only applications that are submitted in this way are taken into account.
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