Two wheeled autonomous vehicles: demonstrating that traditional two wheeled vehicles may successfully evolve into autonomous ones

Autonomous vehicles, which represent a major innovation for both the society and automotive industry, will play an important role in future transport, in particular in the urban environment.In this context, powered-two-wheelers represent a relevant quota of the circulating road vehicles and are the ideal light personal vehicle.

This research aims at demonstrating that traditional two wheeled vehicles may successfully evolve into autonomous one. We want to realise a motorcycle prototype which is self-balancing and able to safely stop in case of an emergency, without any human intervention.

To achieve this goal we plan to use either (or both) a steer-by-wire system (to control the steering system) and a gyroscope system (to directly control the roll motion). The first phase of the research will focus on the conceptual design of such systems and in the development of control algorithms. The second phase will consist in the concept implementation through the transformation of a traditional vehicle into an autonomous one.

This research is in collaboration with Ricardo (www.ricardo.com), Motorcycles Projects and department of Urban Mobility.

Requirements: we seek for self-motivated candidates holding a first or second class UK honours degree (or equivalent) in engineering and related disciplines, such as or physics or mathematics. The ideal candidate should have a good background in mechatronics and a good understanding of control systems, both from the theoretical and practical point of view.

The candidate will have the opportunity of multiple placements at Ricardo UK as well us to visit European universities and research centres thanks to the link with the project Safet2wheelers (www.safe2wheelers.eu).

This PhD project will be funded as part of the UK governments new Industrial Strategy. The scholarship will cover full UK fees and a stipend of between £16k and £18k per year depending on academic qualifications.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Professor Roberto Lot, email: [Email Address Removed], Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 8520.