PhD Position on Vision-Language-Action Model Evaluation for Autonomous Driving

Job description
Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models are a revolutionary paradigm for autonomous driving, enabling systems to jointly perceive, reason, and act in complex environments. However, evaluating such end-to-end models remains challenging, as most existing benchmarks rely on open-loop evaluation and fail to capture closed-loop interactions between a vehicle and its environment. This PhD project focuses on evaluating VLA models using closed-loop simulation methods, which generate photorealistic sensor feedback after each action. Achieving this requires novel view synthesis techniques that enable realistic simulation from previously unseen viewpoints, as well as the integration of language as a modality for evaluation, reasoning, and interpretability. One goal of the project is to develop public datasets and benchmarks specifically designed for closed-loop VLA evaluation.

This fully funded, four-year PhD position takes place at TU Delft and is carried out in close cooperation with researchers from Qualcomm, which funds the project. The research is embedded in an international academic–industrial collaboration and targets fundamental questions in end-to-end autonomous driving and neural view synthesis. Your work is expected to lead to publications at top-tier venues such as CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS or ICRA. You will have access to extensive compute resources at TU Delft, ranging from local GPU servers to large-scale HPC infrastructure. The PhD will be supervised by Dr. Holger Caesar.

Job requirements

• We are seeking PhD applicants with an interest in performing cutting edge research in an active and exciting research area.
• Prospective applicants should have a strong academic record with a solid background in Machine Learning.
• Knowledge of Vision-Language-Action models and Novel View Synthesis techniques is a strong plus.
• Good programming skills (Python) and knowledge of deep-learning frameworks (PyTorch) are expected.
• A certain affinity towards turning complex concepts into real-world practice is desired.
• The successful candidate is expected to be able to act independently as well as to collaborate effectively with members of a larger team and supervise Master students.
• Good English skills are required.

The work takes place in Delft, The Netherlands, but allows for working two days per week from home.

TU Delft (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 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 ME faculty focusses on fundamental understanding, design, production including application and product improvement, materials, processes and (mechanical) systems.

ME 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 ME’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.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Do you want to experience working at our faculty? These videos will introduce you to some of our researchers and their work.

Linux DevOps Engineer

In een wereld waarin wetenschappelijke data steeds groter en gevoeliger wordt, wil de Faculteit der Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Informatica zelf de regie houden op het IT-landschap waarmee we het onderwijs en onderzoek ondersteunen.

Wij beschikken dan ook over een datacenter volledig in eigen beheer. Jij zorgt ervoor dat deze infrastructuur niet alleen betrouwbaar, maar ook continu innovatief blijft. Je ontwikkelt voor de IT-afdeling zelf én voor gebruikers verschillende tools, schaalt onze opslag, en stelt onderzoekers in staat om met enorme datasets te werken die ze nodig hebben voor (bijvoorbeeld) grootschalige AI‑modellen, microscopische beeldverwerking of simulaties. We kiezen bewust voor “open‑source‑first” – zodat we zelf kunnen bepalen hoe en waar we onze data verwerken.

Omdat we de hele “IT-stack” verzorgen van server tot front-end is het aandachtsgebied van de afdeling erg breed variërend van rekenclusters, opslagsystemen, back-upvoorzieningen, e-mailsystemen, webservers tot en met maatwerk applicaties: als DevOps Engineer zorg je ervoor dat de diverse computersystemen en applicaties correct functioneren. Daarnaast ontwikkel en beheer je IT-systemen voor verdere verbetering van onderwijs en onderzoek. Met jouw kennis ben je een waardevolle aanvulling op het team.

Wil je meer weten over hoe jij als IT-specialist een verschil kunt maken bij de Radboud Universiteit? Bekijk alle informatie over werken in IT.

PhD Position: Factual Belief Polarisation and its Attitudinal Consequences

What citizens believe to be true and whether they trust science and experts increasingly depend on where they stand on the political spectrum. As a result, political opponents are often divided not only in their attitudes, but also in their beliefs about reality. Left-wing and right-wing voters, for instance, have different perceptions of the causes of climate change, the magnitude of income inequality, and the number of immigrants in their country. We are recruiting a PhD candidate who will examine how this 'factual belief polarisation' influences public opinion and potentially contributes to broader polarisation.

You will apply new and existing experimental methods to examine when, how, and why factual beliefs about issues such as inequality, immigration, or government spending have an impact on issue attitudes and affective polarisation. Your results will be disseminated in international peer-reviewed journal articles and an article-based PhD dissertation. Your supervision team will consist of Dr. Roderik Rekker (main substantive supervisor), Dr. Hakan Çakmak, Dr. Bojana Većkalov, and Prof. Dr. Carolien van Ham. You will also have a limited teaching assignment of about 5%.

Warehouse Controller

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