2027 Summer Intern – AI/ML Engineer, Autonomous Vehicles: Simulation (PhD)

Description

You will join the company's autonomous vehicle organization as a PhD intern in AI/ML engineering, turning research ideas into tested systems built for production use.

Possible focus areas include perception, prediction, planning, decision-making, embodied AI, simulation, sensor interpretation, mapping, and large-scale model development.

You will work with real driving and sensor recordings, current machine learning techniques, and autonomous vehicle evaluation setups, alongside researchers and engineers on experiments, model building, failure analysis, and integrating strong approaches into wider vehicle systems.

Responsibilities

• Prototype newer machine learning approaches for perception, prediction, planning, or decision-making.
• Build and refine models trained on large multimodal driving and sensor datasets.
• Create data pipelines, experiment workflows, and evaluation tools that let the team iterate quickly.
• Test models in simulation and real-world settings, analyze performance, and study failure cases.
• Improve models and systems for scale, latency, reliability, and deployment limits.
• Work with engineering and research partners to bring prototypes into vehicle systems.
• Write up results, present technical findings, and help produce papers or other research output.

Requirements

• You are currently enrolled full-time in a PhD program in computer science, machine learning, AI, robotics, engineering, or a closely related STEM field.
• You will still have at least one more quarter or semester of study after the internship ends.
• You have published, done research, or taken advanced coursework that shows solid depth in AI/ML.
• You understand modern machine learning and deep learning methods well.
• You write Python well and have hands-on work with PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
• You can design experiments, interpret results, and apply quantitative problem solving.
• You have solid programming, debugging, and software development skills.
• You communicate clearly and work well across research and engineering groups.
• You can work full-time, 40 hours a week, for the entire internship.
• Preferred: research experience in autonomous vehicles, ADAS, robotics, computer vision, or embodied AI.
• Preferred: knowledge of foundation models, transformers, generative and diffusion models, or vision-language architectures.
• Preferred: experience applying multimodal learning to camera, lidar, radar, or other sensor data.
• Preferred: experience with self-supervised, imitation, reinforcement, or deep reinforcement learning.
• Preferred: experience training models on large datasets using distributed, parallel, or high-performance computing.
• Preferred: experience building ML systems, data pipelines, experiment frameworks, or production model infrastructure.
• Preferred: experience validating models through simulation, closed-loop environments, or real-world driving.
• Preferred: expertise in trajectory prediction, behavior or motion planning, perception, mapping, or structured scene understanding.
• Preferred: C++ or another systems programming language.
• Preferred: experience optimizing models with GPU programming, CUDA, accelerator frameworks, or performance profiling.
• Preferred: experience with numerical optimization, statistical estimation, probabilistic modeling, or systems-level tradeoff analysis.
• Preferred: a strong research record, such as first-authored publications, grants, fellowships, patents, or open-source contributions.

Conditions

You are not expected to meet every preferred item, since the useful mix depends on the team.

Pay figures are a good faith estimate based on what a successful applicant might earn under applicable state laws, and may not represent roles outside New York, Colorado, California, or Washington.

Base pay ranges from $12,300 to $14,600 per month, and the actual offer within that range depends on relevant factors.

Eligible students in the 2027 Student Program receive a one-time lump sum taxable stipend to help with relocation.

Start dates are May 24, 2027 and June 14, 2027.

Placement is based on your team, so you will be located with your working team and leader.

This role is hybrid, requiring you to report to your assigned work location at least three days a week.

You may be required to complete a role-related assessment and or a pre-employment screening before starting.

The company prohibits unlawful discrimination and aims for an inclusive workplace.

Benefits

• Paid holidays in the US.
• A vehicle discount program for family members.
• Growth opportunities within the company based on your results.
• Intern events for meeting company leaders and fellow interns.