Peak tyre-road friction estimation for electric vehicles

About the Project

Supervisory Team: Dr Anil Madhusudhanan

Estimating peak tyre-road friction coefficient for autonomous electric vehicles (EVs) is still an open research problem. A potential solution will make a huge impact in their active safety systems, which are crucial for autonomous EVs given the extra importance of vehicle safety while moving towards higher levels of driving automation.

You'll work on estimating peak tyre-road friction coefficient of an electric vehicle (EV), a fundamental vehicle safety problem. This research is crucial and timely as we move towards autonomous vehicles to reduce human driving hours and resolve driver shortage issues, and towards EVs to limit the adverse effects of climate change.

In a ground vehicle, the maximum forces at the tyre-road contact points play an important role in vehicle safety. The peak tyre-road friction coefficient, which varies depending on the road and tyre conditions, is needed to estimate these maxima. Although estimation of this friction coefficient is well-researched, existing methods are only effective if the vehicle's steering or braking or throttle is moderate or heavy, i.e. when the vehicle may already be in a dangerous scenario.

Some of these solutions are currently used in the active vehicle safety systems in human driven vehicles, where humans are responsible for safety. But in the context of autonomous vehicles, the vehicles are responsible for safety. Therefore, to avoid a potential collision, an autonomous vehicle must decide when to initiate emergency braking or steering or throttle.

This decision making needs the maximum tyre force to be known before the vehicle reaches a dangerous scenario. This requires peak tyre-road friction estimation when the vehicle's acceleration magnitude is low, i.e. when the vehicle speed is nearly constant. This is still an open research problem. A potential solution will make a huge impact in the design of active vehicle safety systems.

Entry requirements

You must have a UK 1st class honours degree or its international equivalent.

Fees and funding

You will compete for Lanchester Category D Excellence Studentships, Presidential Scholarships and Black Futures Scholarships. These studentships and scholarships provide tuition fees and a tax-free stipend for up to 3.5 years for the highest quality UK applicants.

Horizon Europe fee waivers automatically cover the difference between overseas and UK fees for applicants from EU and Horizon Europe countries. Competition-based Presidential Bursaries from the University cover the difference between overseas and UK fees for top-ranked international applicants.

These funding schemes are highly competitive and hence the UK 1st class degree or its equivalent requirement.

For more information, please visit our postgraduate research funding pages.

How to apply

Apply now

You need to:

• choose programme type (Research), 2026/27, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• select Full time or Part time
• search for programme PhD Engineering & the Environment (7175)
• add name of the supervisor in section 2 of the application

Applications should include:

• your CV (resumé)
• 2 academic references
• degree transcripts and certificates to date
• English language qualification (if applicable)