2027 Summer Intern, PhD, Perception Systems Engineering: Pedestrian Detection Precision

Waymo

Posted 17 days ago

Internship

San Francisco, California

Hybrid

Smart Summary

Responsibilities

You will determine and author requirements for pedestrian detection models and collect data to test these requirements. Additionally, you will run evaluations to track performance and identify areas for improvement within the perception systems.

Qualifications

You are currently pursuing a PhD in a technical field such as Engineering or Computer Science and possess strong software engineering fundamentals. You have a familiarity with systems engineering and the logical flow from requirements to testing, and ideally experience handling large datasets or automating test flows.

Must Have Skills for ATS

Python

SQL

Systems Engineering

Software Engineering

Job Description

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.

Waymo's Systems Engineering team works together to blend software and hardware systems in groundbreaking new ways. We set the high performance standards that ensure our vehicles run smoothly and keep passengers safe, then design and perform the tests that validate that performance. We're looking for talented teammates who’ll help us maintain strong teamwork and are passionate about driving results.

Waymo interns partner with leaders in the industry on projects that create impact to the company. We believe learning is a two-way street: applying your knowledge while providing you with opportunities to expand your skill-set. Interns are an important part of our culture and our recruiting pipeline. Join us at Waymo for a fun and rewarding internship!

You will:

  • Determine and author requirements and verification items for detection models that cover pedestrians near the Waymo vehicle.  
  • Collect and analyze data from existing logs and/or structured tests to test these requirements and identify false-positive clusters.
  • Run evaluations and triage results to track performance and identify release-over-release changes.
  • Leverage the evaluation framework you build to highlight areas with headroom and help the Perception teams hillclimb.

You have:

  • Currently pursuing a PhD in a technical field, such as Engineering, Physics, CS, etc.
  • Software engineering fundamentals
  • Familiarity with systems engineering, particularly the logical flow of requirements to tests

We prefer:

  • Experience handling large data sets/queries (e.g., SQL, Python) and/or automating test flows
  • Understanding of the fundamentals of an autonomous vehicle stack, including the data pipeline from sensors to Perception
  • Existing knowledge/skills/experience related to the autonomous vehicle industry or other similar forms of automation

Note: This will be a hybrid onsite internship position. We will accept resumes on a rolling basis until the role is filled. To be in consideration for multiple roles, you will need to apply to each one individually - please apply to the top 3 roles you are interested in.

The expected hourly rate for this full-time position is listed below. Interns are also eligible to participate in the Company’s generous benefits programs, subject to eligibility requirements.Hourly PhD Pay$85—$85 USD

Waymo

On the journey to be the world's most trusted driver. With the Waymo Driver, we can improve mobility while saving thousands of lives. Download the Waymo One app and ride today. Waymo reaches out to candidates from official channels only (e.g. directly from @waymo.com email addresses, or through our recruiters or sourcers who are noted as such on LinkedIn). We do not contact candidates about career opportunities through instant messaging apps like Telegram, email addresses from domains other than waymo.com (such as Gmail addresses), direct messages on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or text messages. Visit waymo.com to check out our official job listings. Need support? Send us a message – we're here to help.
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