Development of model free longitudinal controllers for autonomous vehicles - Internship Toulouse

Description

Internship details

• Duration: 6 months (starting date is flexible)
• Location: Toulouse
• Team: EZDrive-Control
• Internship subject: Development of model free longitudinal controllers for autonomous vehicles
• Compensation: 1000€ gross, tickets restaurant, CSE

Internship Context

The EZDrive-Control team is responsible for vehicle dynamics and lateral/longitudinal control across EasyMile’s driverless platforms. Accurate longitudinal control (speed and acceleration) is critical for operational safety, stopping precision, and load stability in industrial transport and logistics vehicles. EasyMile currently relies on model-based controllers. However, massive variations in vehicle payload (ranging from empty to fully loaded platforms) create severe dynamic non-linearities, making model calibration complex across diverse operational scenarios.

The objective of this internship is to investigate and design Model-Free Control (MFC) and Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) to handle large payload changes. The intern will focus on controller synthesis, disturbance estimation, and formulating  tuning methods that reduce calibration effort while maintaining high dynamic performance.

Missions / Responsabilities

• Review literature on MFC and ADRC for autonomous vehicles and ADAS.
• Design MFC (e.g., iPID) and ADRC architectures and derive systematic tuning rules.
• Benchmark performance against model-based controllers in simulation across mass, friction, and slope variations.
• Implement control algorithms in C++ within EasyMile’s ROS-based software stack.
• Validate controller performance on a HIL setup or a real prototype vehicle.

Profile

There is no typical profile at EasyMile, we all come from different backgrounds and that is what makes us strong! Don’t hesitate to apply if you are motivated and interested by innovative transportation and technologies.

We are looking for:

• Student in Master’s/Engineering degree in Automatic Control, Robotics.
• Technical Skills: Solid knowledge of control theory (e.g., state estimation, observers and controllers design). Proficiency in MATLAB (or Python) and C++.
• Desirable: Experience with ROS, Linux development, and Model-Free Control / ADRC or control skills
• Soft skills: Team spirit, autonomy, and curiosity
• Language skills : English and French

Recruitment process

• 30 minutes call with a recruitment team
• Meeting with the team, technical tests
• One hour interview with the tutor and a recruitment team

Company

Autonomous technology for driverless vehicles in various industries.