Industrial PhD in Autonomous Maps and Localization

Scania is now undergoing a transformation from being a supplier of trucks, buses and engines to a supplier of complete and sustainable transport solutions.

Do you want to shape the forefront of self-driving technologies? At Autonomous Transport Solutions (ATS) Research, Scania R&D, we pursue top-quality research and development of future cutting-edge ATS concepts. We operate in agile and self-steered teams that work in close cooperation with TRATON, leading technology suppliers, and academic institutions, with the ambition to detect and evaluate upcoming technologies. Our culture is built based upon delivering added customer value through research and practical experiments that iteratively lead to concepts for industrialization.

Does this sound like an interesting technical area? Then send us your application and we will be happy to give you a more detailed explanation.

Your responsibilities

At Autonomous Transport Solutions (ATS) Research, Scania R&D, we pursue top-quality research and development of future cutting-edge ATS concepts. We operate in agile and self-steered teams that work in close cooperation with academic institutions, with the ambition to detect and evaluate upcoming technologies. Our culture is built based upon delivering added customer value through research and practical experiments that iteratively lead to concepts for industrialization.

Background

Autonomous driving is a game-changer in the transportation industry, with huge potential to improve road safety. Scania plans to focus on novel technical solutions that boost the safety, robustness, and scalability of autonomous vehicles in order to thrive in this dynamic environment. A critical requirement for safe autonomous driving is Situational Awareness. This requires access to complete and highly accurate information regarding the surrounding environment. HD maps provide large-scale context information without being degraded by the real-time perception constraints. However, this dependency necessitates continuous validation and update of HD maps, since they may otherwise represent wrong information due to road changes or inaccurate map creation.

At the current time, there is no established theoretical and technological framework that enables detecting and updating the changes of HD map features automatically.

Project Description

You will be developing novel theoretical concepts and evaluating these in practice on an experimental testbed. The goal of this project is the automatic and offline change detection and map update of road features in the HD map. The changes of the road features are identified using different sensor pipelines such as lidar and camera. The information received from various feature detectors and local change detection algorithms, and a-priori information about feature distribution are all fused together to take a decision on valid changes in the HD map. Special geometric structures, such as parallel lanes, that are commonly found on city streets and highways have innate implicit geometric properties. The suggested map changes should also provide such geometric consistency.

To achieve these objectives, the industrial Ph.D. student will pursue a multi-disciplinary research in the areas of state estimation, optimization, machine learning, artificial intelligence and probabilistic modeling.

This research project will be conducted in an agile multi-cultural research team within R&D. The team is responsible for concept evaluation and software development of maps and localization for autonomous driving.

The results of this research project will be implemented in Scania’s development environment for autonomous driving and they will be experimentally evaluated in operating prototype vehicles (trucks and buses) equipped with sensors and a platform set up for autonomous driving.

Your profile

To apply you should have a master of engineering degree (or equivalent) in applied mathematics, computer science, machine learning, robotics, engineering physics, electrical engineering or in a related technical science or engineering subject.

The candidate is expected to have a solid mathematical knowledge and demonstrable programming skills. We look for a candidate who is self-motivated, engaged, that can communicate in a pedagogic way to the team and the rest of the organization. You exhibit strong analytical skills; and are well-organized and able to autonomously plan and execute tasks. You are fluent in English both in writing and in speech. You shall have 


• Knowledge of modern C++ and developing within a Linux-based development environment
• Fundamentals in non-linear optimization, state estimation, probabilistic modeling

Extra meritorious if you have:


• Knowledge and experience within software languages such as Python and/or MATLAB/Simulink along with a keen interest in programming and strong programming skills
• A proven interest in interdisciplinary research and record of initiative
• Experience working with lidar, camera and associated sensor data (Point cloud registration, Sensor fusion, SLAM, Visual odometry)

 

This research will be conducted in collaboration with the Robotics, Perception and Learning department at KTH – The Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm, under the supervision of Professor Patric Jensfelt.

 

Your application should include a cover letter, CV and copies of your education certificate and transcript. 

 

If this sounds interesting and you want to know more contact Laura Dal Col, +46 (0)8 553 851 20. Final application date is February 15. Interviews will take place continuously during the application period.


Scania is a world-leading provider of transport solutions. Together with our partners and customers we are driving the shift towards a sustainable transport system. In 2020, we delivered 66,900 trucks, 5,200 buses as well as 11,000 industrial and marine power systems to our customers. Net sales totalled to over SEK 125 billion, of which over 20 percent were services-related. Founded in 1891, Scania now operates in more than 100 countries and employs some 50,000 people. Research and development are mainly concentrated in Sweden. Production takes place in Europe and Latin America with regional product centres in Africa, Asia and Eurasia. Scania is part of TRATON GROUP. For more information visit: www.scania.com.