Job opportunity AVATAR. Postdoc on Autonomy and Cooperation of Zero-Emission Autonomous Vessels
Freight transport is projected to increase over 58% by 2050 or 1.2% each year. Europe needs to exploit alternative modes of transport as road transport will be unable to cope with these increasing demands. Meanwhile, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80–95% below 1990 levels is stated as a critical requirement with respect to limiting climate change to 2°C by 2050. Improving the efficiency of inland waterway transport (IWT) in multi-modal transport systems is listed as one of the main challenges to reach the goals. The massive under-exploitation IWT in and around urban environment provides opportunities for technological innovations.
As postdoc, you have the opportunity to investigate high-level automation and coordination of multiple autonomous vessels whilst simulating an urban environment context, at the Researchlab Autonomous Shipping (RAS), Section Transport Engineering and Logistics, Dept. of Maritime & Transport Technology of TU Delft. You will hereby in particular focus on algorithmic and experimental research to increase the performance, efficiency, safety and reliability of a fleet of autonomous ships. Further, you will investigate scaling up towards real-size urban freight vessels in different cities for validating and assessing the shipping performance and corresponding technologies in collaboration with the AVATAR industrial and academic partners from The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
This postdoc position is embedded in the INTERREG project “Sustainable urban freight transport with autonomous zero-emission vessels >>> modal shift from road to water (AVATAR)”, co-funded by the North Sea Region Programme. AVATAR aims to tackle challenges of city freight distribution by developing, testing and evaluating technologies for urban autonomous IWT.
You have a PhD degree or expect to obtain a PhD degree soon in mechanical engineering, maritime technology, systems and control or related areas. Experience with data communication, computer vision, robotics and/or experimental design is a plus. Good communication and writing skills in English and the ability to collaborate with companies and research institutes are important.
Full information is available via this link.
