A Look from Researchers – Interview with Rakshit Soni
On this page :
- What motivated you to specialize in autonomous vehicles and mobile robotics ?
- What do you like most about your work as a doctoral researcher ?
- What would you like your work to achieve, both at CESI Lineact and in your field?
3 questions to Rakshit Soni
PhD researcher at CESI LINEACT, in partnership
with Stellantis
In March 2025, Soni Rakshit joined CESI LINEACT and Stellantis as a PhD researcher. Passionate about cars since childhood, he gradually turned his attention to emerging technologies related to autonomous vehicles and mobile robotics. His work focuses on the interaction between pedestrians and vehicles in L3-L4 automated driving systems, based on vehicle-infrastructure communications. Through simulation, real-time software integration, and game theory, he is helping to invent safer and smarter mobility.
Your career path has taken you from India to the United Kingdom, and now to France, where you are pursuing an industrial PhD with Stellantis. What motivated you to specialize in autonomous vehicles and mobile robotics ?
“Cars!!!” They’ve fascinated me since I was a child. It was this passion that naturally led me to study automotive engineering, to explore the mechanics and technology of these machines in depth.
One day, I came across a project presented by Volvo on automated vehicles. It was a revelation: what if this was the next big evolution, making cars smarter and safer?
From there, I decided to leave the purely mechanical path and dive into computer science and research. I pursued a Master’s by Research in computer science in the UK, where I had the opportunity to develop autonomous mobile platforms from scratch. I learned a lot, often more from my failures than from my successes. This experience reinforced my idea: I wanted to make a concrete contribution to the industrial deployment of these technologies, not just study them on paper.
What do you like most about your work as a doctoral researcher ?
What fascinates me is the intensity of the work. Of course, there is pressure and sleepless nights (yes, it happens !), but that’s also what makes the adventure exciting. Mistakes are part of everyday life: they force us to think differently, to find new solutions, and they push us to progress. Working at the crossroads of two worlds, Stellantis, one of the world’s largest automotive groups, and CESI LINEACT, a renowned research center, is a real opportunity. I benefit from a rich environment, alongside professionals from different backgrounds. It’s an environment that encourages me to give my best, to share my ideas, but also to constantly learn from the experience and knowledge of others.
What would you like your work to achieve, both at CESI Lineact and in your field?
My ambition is to produce results that can be applied in the industrial world and in society. My work may not be the perfect solution, but the important thing is to pave the way and lay the foundations on which others can build.
For me, that’s what research is all about: creating opportunities for the future and helping to build safer, more efficient, and smarter mobility.
Rakshit’s advice to future doctoral students:
Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions.
Mark Twain