{"id":3140973,"url":"https://alion.io/job/volvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning","title":"Master thesis - Understanding Retarder Stalk Usage Through Data Analytics and Machine Learning","company":{"id":21055,"name":"Volvo Group","domain":"volvogroup.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/volvo-group","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"SuccessFactors","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":100,"open_postings":7,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.143,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":16,"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"}},"role":"Analytics","role_family":"Analytics","seniority":null,"employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Gothenburg, Sweden"],"countries":["SE"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":38000,"max_usd":103000,"period":"year","method":null,"sample_n":8885},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Time Series","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T08:29:27Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-23","last_verified_at":"2026-10-24T16:40:17Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":3,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":3},"description":"Transport is at the core of modern society. Imagine using your expertise to shape sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions for the future. If you seek to make a difference on a global scale, working with next-gen technologies and the sharpest collaborative teams, then we could be a perfect match.\nModern heavy-duty trucks generate large amounts of vehicle data, offering valuable insight into driver behavior and vehicle performance. The retarder stalk lets drivers control auxiliary braking, but little is known about how drivers use its different positions, how often they switch between them, and how these patterns relate to braking behavior. By applying statistical and machine learning methods to real-world vehicle data, we can uncover usage patterns, identify what drives them, and support more efficient and intelligent vehicle control strategies.\nWe are looking for two Master’s students who want to apply data analytics and machine learning to real-world vehicle data, and to contribute to data-driven improvements in heavy-duty vehicle development\nThesis Scope\nThe purpose of this thesis is to investigate how drivers interact with retarder stalk positions under real-world driving conditions and how different usage patterns relate to braking behavior and vehicle operation.\nThe thesis is expected to:\nAnalyze real-world vehicle data to characterize retarder stalk usage across driving sessions.\nIdentify common usage patterns in stalk position distributions, transition sequences, dwell times, and switching frequency (e.g. Markov chain models).\nDiscover driver usage profiles, such as stable usage, frequent changes, and short-term repeated transitions, using clustering methods (e.g. GMM, HDBSCAN) and latent-state models (e.g. HMM).\nInvestigate the relationship between stalk position changes and braking behaviour before, during, and after transitions.\nAssess how driving conditions, such as vehicle speed, road gradient, and vehicle load, influence observed usage patterns.\nThis project offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of data science, vehicle systems, driver behavior, and automotive engineering while addressing a real industrial challenge using high-frequency vehicle data.\nWho We Believe You Are\nYou are currently pursuing a Master’s degree in:\nData Science\nComputer Science or Computer Engineering\nElectrical Engineering\nApplied Mathematics\nYou have a strong interest in:\nData analytics and machine learning\nTime-series analysis, clustering, and behavioral pattern recognition\nVehicle systems and automotive engineering\nStatistical analysis, visualization, and data-driven problem-solvin\nExperience with Python, large-scale datasets, or machine learning is considered an advantage. Familiarity with vehicle data or signal analysis is a plus.\nWhat You'll Gain\nHands-on experience applying data analytics and machine learning to real-world, high-frequency vehicle data\nInsight into how data science supports heavy-duty vehicle development in an industrial setting\nPractical Information\nThesis Level: Master's Thesis\nNumber of Students: 2\nLanguage: English\nSemester: Spring 2026\nApplication Deadline: November 6, 2026\nWe value your data privacy and therefore do not accept applications via mail.\nWho we are and what we believe in\nWe are committed to shaping the future landscape of efficient, safe, and sustainable transport solutions. Fulfilling our mission creates countless career opportunities for talents across the group’s leading brands and entities.\nApplying to this job offers you the opportunity to join Volvo Group. Every day, you will be working with some of the sharpest and most creative brains in our field to be able to leave our society in better shape for the next generation. We are passionate about what we do, and we thrive on teamwork. We are almost 100,000 people united around the world by a culture of care, inclusiveness, and empowerment.\nTrucks Technology & Industrial Division hire team players who are ready to create real customer impact. Our decentralized teams work close to our customers, with speed and autonomy, to build what they truly need.\nJoin us to collaborate on innovative, sustainable technologies that redefine how we design, build, and deliver value. Bring your curiosity, your expertise, and your collaborative energy, and together, we’ll turn bold ideas into tangible solutions for our customers and contribute to a more sustainable tomorrow.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4445,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"master","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Automotive Manufacturing","Industrial Machinery"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-23T08:29:27Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.897,"p_room":1,"age_days":2,"expected_fill_days":16,"reasons":["conf:37","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/volvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/volvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-26T09:34:39Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":12996,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-27T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":21055},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=21055"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fvolvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fvolvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fvolvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/volvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fvolvo-group-master-thesis-understanding-retarder-stalk-usage-through-data-analytics-and-machine-learning"}]}