Contact Dr Marco Cecotti
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 758512
- Email: M.Cecotti@cranfield.ac.uk
Areas of expertise
- Mechatronics & Advanced Controls
- On-Road Vehicle Dynamics
Background
Dr Marco Cecotti is a Lecturer in Driving Automation and Course Director of the MSc in Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (CAVE). He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Oxford Brookes University and an MSc in Electronics Engineering from the University of Udine.
Before joining academia, Dr Cecotti spent eight years in automotive R&D: first as Senior and then Principal Control Systems Engineer at Tata Motors European Technical Centre (Coventry), working on hybrid-electric vehicles and the UK Autodrive autonomous demonstrator; then as Advanced Control Systems Engineer in Dyson's Electric Car Team, defining the Vehicle Supervisory Controller architecture and ISO 26262-aligned development processes.
He joined Cranfield as a Research Fellow, was appointed Lecturer in 2019, and has served as Course Director of the MSc CAVE since 2023. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
His research focuses primarily on two complementary themes: capturing the driving environment through multi-modal sensing (ultrasonic, RADAR, LiDAR, V2X) and modelling human driving behaviour for trajectory prediction and naturalistic automated navigation.
Research opportunities
Dr Cecotti's research spans two interconnected themes:
* Capturing the driving environment - developing multi-modal perception systems for automated vehicles using sensors beyond the conventional camera鈥揕iDAR combination: novel ultrasonic arrays, automotive RADAR, infrastructure-mounted LiDAR, and V2X communication. Active industrial partnerships include Calyo, Oxford RF, Ohmio, and Benedex.
* Modelling human driving behaviour - building data-driven models of how drivers interact with the road, covering trajectory prediction, drowsiness and distraction detection, and the design of automated manoeuvres that replicate naturalistic human driving.
PhD opportunities are available in both areas, with particular interest in industry-sponsored projects. Prospective students are welcome to contact Dr Cecotti to discuss potential topics.
Current activities
Dr Cecotti recently completed Driven by Sound (Innovate UK ref. 10059986, 2024鈥�2025), a 拢912k collaborative project in which he served as Principal Investigator for Cranfield's 拢267k share. The project integrated Calyo's novel ultrasonic sensor technology into a passenger car to deliver Cranfield's first autonomous vehicle demonstrator. He is currently pursuing further funding across several Innovate UK and Horizon Europe competitions.
As Course Director, Dr Cecotti oversees the full student journey on the CAVE programme: from applicant selection and induction through to industrial project scoping, group presentations, and graduation. He recently led the MSc CAVE through successful IET and IMechE accreditation (backdated to 2020) and has guided student teams through the UTAC Challenge at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlh茅ry.
In addition to his Course Director role, Dr Cecotti leads the Vehicle Control Applications module for the MSc in Automotive Mechatronics and Advanced Motorsport Mechatronics, and the Group Design Project for the MSc in Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Engineering. He also supervises PhD and MSc students on research projects in Intelligent Mobility.
