2027/PhD, Machine Learning, Planning/Prediction

Waymo

Posted 20 days ago

Internship

Mountain View, California

Hybrid

Smart Summary

Responsibilities

The intern will research, implement, and evaluate state-of-the-art generative models for autonomous vehicle planning. They will also develop ML-powered systems to enhance the capabilities of the Waymo Driver and scale business operations.

Qualifications

You are currently pursuing an MS or PhD in a related technical field and possess proficient programming skills in Python or C/C++. You also have hands-on experience with modern deep learning libraries such as TensorFlow, JAX, or PyTorch.

Must Have Skills for ATS

TensorFlow

JAX

Pytorch

Python

C++

Machine Learning

deep learning

generative models

reinforcement learning

foundation models

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.

Software Engineering builds the brains of Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology. Our software allows the Waymo Driver to perceive the world around it, make the right decision for every situation, and deliver people safely to their destinations. We think deeply and solve complex technical challenges in areas like robotics, perception, decision-making and deep learning, while collaborating with hardware and systems engineers. If you’re a software engineer or researcher who’s curious and passionate about Level 4 autonomous driving, we'd like to meet you. 

The subteam for this role will be:

The Predictive Planning team (PrePlan) develops and deploys state-of-the-art machine learning solutions that predict the future state of the world and plan the Waymo Driver’s behavior. Our mission is to transform Waymo's unprecedented scale of driving data into robust, generalizable, and performant deep neural networks. These models enable the autonomous vehicle to navigate complex environments safely and efficiently.

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:

  • Research, implement, and evaluate state-of-the-art generative models for autonomous vehicle planning
  • Develop next-generation, ML-powered systems that enhance the capabilities of the ML driver and accelerate the rapid scaling of Waymo’s business
  • Translate open-ended, real-world driving challenges into well-defined machine learning problems, applying cutting-edge techniques, including foundation models and reinforcement learning

You have:

  • Currently pursuing an MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related technical field
  • Hands-on experience with modern deep learning libraries (eg: TensorFlow, JAX, Pytorch)
  • Proficient programming skills (eg: Python, C/C++)

We prefer:

  • Publications in top-tier conferences such as ICML, NeurIPS, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICLR, IROS, CoRL, ACL, or EMNLP
  • Hands-on experience deploying, evaluating, and maintaining ML-based systems in real-world, production environments

General Perks

  • Help solve challenging problems with a direct impact on the company
  • Competitive compensation packages with a housing/relocation bonus (if applicable)
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • Fun intern events and networking opportunities

Onsite Perks

  • Free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks 
  • Free access to Google shuttles
  • Onsite gym

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 Masters Pay$70—$70 USDThe 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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