The European project Hi-Drive addresses key challenges in vehicle automation,

• extending the range of safe operation from higway to urban,
• enhancing motion comfort and trust in automation to foster public acceptance.

In Hi-Drive, TU Delft focusses on human factors and is recruiting a post-doc or researcher in motion comfort. The candidate will investigate perceived motion comfort and motion sickness in particular when performing non-driving related tasks in automated vehicles. Here our key scientific challenge is to unravel processes leading to the perception of comfort and discomfort, and to translate these insight into models predicting comfort in automated driving.

The candidate will:

1. Perform and coordinate experiments in experimental vehicles and driving simulators to study perceived comfort, performance in non-driving tasks, motion perception, and biomechanical seat interaction.

2. Use existing data from TU Delft and partners, as well as new data to create models predicting comfort as function of vehicle motion, visual context, non-driving related tasks, and seating. These models will build upon models developed at TU Delft capturing:

a) visual and vestibular sensory integration in motion perception,

b) postural stabilisation using large-scale biomechanical models, and

c) seat interaction.

Within Hi-Drive the candidate will collaborate with industrial and academic partners to collect human response data for comfort modelling.

Within TU Delft, the candidate will join a multidisciplinary team investigating and modelling motion comfort in automated vehicles and developing advanced vehicle motion and active suspension control strategies.

Hi-Drive is a consortium of 41 European partners covering the main impact areas which affect users, and the transport system, and enhance societal benefits.

With a total budget of 60 Million Euro the project intends to contribute towards market deployment of automated systems by 2030.

Hi-Drive includes outreach activities, networking with the interested stakeholders, coordinating parallel activities in Europe and overseas.

Hi-Drive website.

• The candidate shall hold a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Human Movement Sciences, or Neuroscience.
• More senior candidates with an industrial and/or academic track record may also apply. 
• Candidates shall hold demonstrated experience in at least one of the following fields:
  Motion perception, motion comfort, postural stabilization, neuromuscular modelling, frequency domain analysis, control theory, vehicle dynamics.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (salary indication: € 3.703 - € 4.670 per month gross). The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount on health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants we offer the Coming to Delft Service and Partner Career Advice to assist you with your relocation. An International Children's Centre offers childcare and there is an international primary school.

This postdoc position has a fixed-term contract of 24 months.

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

From chip to ship. From machine to human being. From idea to solution. Driven by a deep-rooted desire to understand our environment and discover its underlying mechanisms, research and education at the 3mE faculty focusses on fundamental understanding, design, production including application and product improvement, materials, processes and (mechanical) systems.

3mE is a dynamic and innovative faculty with high-tech lab facilities and international reach. It’s a large faculty but also versatile, so we can often make unique connections by combining different disciplines. This is reflected in 3mE’s outstanding, state-of-the-art education, which trains students to become responsible and socially engaged engineers and scientists. We translate our knowledge and insights into solutions to societal issues, contributing to a sustainable society and to the development of prosperity and well-being. That is what unites us in pioneering research, inspiring education and (inter)national cooperation.

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