2027 Summer Intern, PhD, Road Understanding, ML Engineer

Waymo LLC; Mountain View, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 97,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous internship benefits

Job summary

Waymo LLC in Mountain View invites a PhD candidate to join as a software engineering intern focused on advancing autonomous driving perception and learning systems. You will design and train deep learning models, analyze perception accuracy, and collaborate with researchers and engineers to translate insights into deployment-ready components.

The role emphasizes cutting-edge machine learning for 2D/3D perception, graph networks, and scalable training pipelines, with a hybrid onsite arrangement

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Strong programming proficiency in Python and solid experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow).
• Hands-on experience designing, training, and debugging deep learning architectures for Computer Vision, 3D Perception, or Graph Neural Networks (e.g., Transformers, DETR-based detectors, GNNs, or BEV perception).
• Solid foundational knowledge of 2D/3D geometry, coordinate transformations, and spatial/relational reasoning.

Responsibilities

• Designing and Building Machine Learning Models: Writing clean, high-performance code to implement core algorithms for entity-centric lane geometry detection and relational topology decoding.
• Running Experiments and Training Pipelines: Setting up data pipelines and training neural networks across vehicle sensor modalities and map priors.
• Benchmarking and Analyzing Performance: Creating structured evaluation metrics to benchmark model accuracy and topological correctness across complex intersections.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnering with mentors and engineering teams to evaluate downstream planning impact and package insights for deployment.

Skills

Python

DL Frameworks

3D Perception

GNNs

Computer Vision

Education

PhD candidate

PhD in CS/Robotics

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

TensorFlow

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 buildsthe brains ofWaymo'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.

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:

• Designing and Building Machine Learning Models: Writing clean, high-performance code to implement core algorithms for entity‑centric lane geometry detection and relational topology decoding (e.g., merges, splits, predecessor/successor connectivity).
• Running Experiments and Training Pipelines: Setting up data pipelines and training neural networks across vehicle sensor modalities and map priors, leveraging techniques like proxy auto‑encoding and prior‑dropout to handle real‑world challenges like construction zones and occlusions.
• Benchmarking and Analyzing Performance: Creating structured evaluation metrics to benchmark model accuracy and topological correctness across complex intersections, analyzing failure cases, and iterating on architectural designs.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnering closely with research mentors, buddy, and upstream/downstream engineering teams to evaluate downstream planning impact and package insights for publication or internal deployment.

You have:

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Strong programming proficiency in Python and solid experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow).
• Hands‑on experience designing, training, and debugging deep learning architectures for Computer Vision, 3D Perception, or Graph Neural Networks (e.g., Transformers, DETR‑based detectors, GNNs, or BEV perception).
• Solid foundational knowledge of 2D/3D geometry, coordinate transformations, and spatial/relational reasoning.

We prefer:

• Track record of publications in top‑tier conferences in machine learning, computer vision, or robotics (e.g., CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, ICRA, CoRL, AAAI).
• Experience with vectorized HD map learning, lane topology estimation, or dynamic roadgraph modeling (e.g., MapTR, TopoNet, LaneGAP, or similar architectures).
• Experience with large‑scale distributed model training and data infrastructure (e.g., TPU/GPU clusters, Ray, Jax/Flax, or multi‑GPU pipelines).
• Familiarity with autonomous vehicle perception stacks, sensor fusion (camera, LiDAR), and downstream motion planning constraints.

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