Skip to main content

Introducing VU ASE

Welcome to the Autonomous Systems Engineering labs (ASE labs) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam! Starting April 1st 2025, at most twenty Computer Science students will be admitted to complete their Bachelor Project in our interdisciplinary and state-of-the-art-environment. Besides working with a team of enthusiastic experts in a variety of fields, ASE offers the unique opportunity to put your research into practice using an award-winning and innovative hardware- and software framework.

Top down view of Hugo van Wezenbeek with the ASE Rover

Max Gallup

Max Gallup

Hardware Lead, Course Organizer

Elias Groot

Elias Groot

Software Lead, Course Organizer

Research with us​

At the ASE labs, we would like to welcome you to complete your Bachelor Project in Computer Science. With our support and under the supervision of a domain-specific expert, you will be working on a central research question in a team of two people. You are provided an in-house designed and constructed Rover along with a modular software package to perform research and development in one of the following areas:

  • Illumination and Camera Optimization
  • Software Integration and Unit Testing
  • Software and Network security
  • Machine Learning
  • Performance Engineering
  • Control Methods for Autonomous Driving
  • Energy-efficient Engineering and Green IT
  • or something you come up with!

The Bachelor Project we offer is very interdisciplinary and spans much wider than research into Autonomous Driving only. You are encouraged to come up with your own research questions and topics. For questions about whether or not a topic or field or research is possible, email: ase@vu.nl

What to expect​

After being accepted through our selection procedure, you will be working in a group to perform research in a chosen field. Each group will be handed their own Rover, which you can use for duration of the project. The Rover comes fully assembled and is able to drive autonomously right out of the box. You are also given access to a large shared lab environment where all equipment, technical and research support is provided. The Rover comes with a modular software framework that enables you to (re)write your software in any language you like. It comes equipped with a complete Linux installation and 8GB of RAM, to make the bar to entry as low as possible, allowing you to write and run software however suits your research best. We very much encourage students to explore their own research interests.

The focus lies on taking your research from theory to practice, with diligence and attention to detail. The complex nature of problems in computer science require staying sharp and attentive to details, thinking critically and always asking questions. You will implement your research and conduct experiments with the Rover and possibly exercise the iterative design process through trial and error. You will combine many aspects of your computer science bachelor into a fully-packed research and development project: from requirements engineering to secure programming and from image processing to software design, this is your chance to show what you got!