Thesis work - Front seat passenger behaviour

About this opportunity - Background

At Vehicle Engineering, our responsibility spans the entire chassis, interior, climate, body & exterior functions, mechanical integration, and a range of vehicle attributes with impact on design and customer experience of our complete product. Across these domains and all development cycles, we will lead an effective delivery operation on a complete level in close sync with other Engineering units, functions, and stakeholders across the company.

This thesis work is within the area of Ergonomics at Vehicle Attributes.

The seated position in a car affects comfort and well-being, and should also be a safe position. Understanding and predicting how seats are used and adjusted in the everyday life of non-driving occupants is important for the development of the vehicle interior and seat adjustment area, and for optimizing safety and comfort. We need to learn more about the behaviour and needs of the front seat occupants in different use cases. This includes identifying acceptable comfort levels for different seat positions and postures or defining a range of different positions accommodating diverse preferences.

The aim of this master's thesis is to investigate parameters affecting the front seat passenger position, how different use cases may affect the behaviour and the acceptance of a preset position, and how prone the occupant is to adjust their seat position based on different prerequisites. The master's thesis includes the development of methods to measure acceptance levels for seated positions and to predict the front seat occupant position and posture for different use cases. 

Scope of the thesis work

• Scientific literature study and expert interviews for gathering knowledge of passenger seat positions and behavior
• Identify parameters affecting the seat position
• Identify and define relevant use cases for when and how the passenger seat is used
• Explore how preferred seating positions vary across different use cases
• Investigate whether a "universal comfort zone" exists within the seat adjustment range
• Explore how the initial seat position affects the chosen position and how prone the passenger is to adjust the seat based on the prerequisites
• Develop suitable data collection methods for measuring where, why, and how people position themselves in the passenger seat. Both objective and subjective data collection, including acceptance levels for different positions
• Define an evaluation method to assess comfort and acceptance level for passenger seat positions
• Develop a prediction model for the front passenger seat position, based on influencing parameters and relevant use cases

What you'll bring

You are an efficient team player with great communication skills. You have an analytical approach and a curious mindset. Furthermore, you are engaged and take responsibility for your work. 

This master's thesis is suitable for two master students with profiles toward human-centric engineering, such as Product Development, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering, or similar. 

Duration

•    The work will start in January 2026, exact date to be discussed
•    30 ECTS (academic credits) in agreement with your thesis advisor at the University
•    This thesis is to be conducted by 2 students working in pair
•    A driving license B is required
•    The work will be conducted on site at Volvo Cars, Göteborg.