Motion Planning Engineer – Autonomous Driving Systems

DiDi; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 36,000 - 44,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Intern benefits

Job summary

DiDi is seeking a motivated PhD graduate with a research focus on motion planning, robotics, or autonomous systems to design and integrate planning capabilities for autonomous vehicles. The role emphasizes algorithm design, system integration, and collaboration across teams.

You will contribute to behavioral planning, trajectory optimization, and multi-agent interactions, while applying C++ in real-time contexts and exploring connections with perception, prediction, and control modules.

Qualifications

• PhD in Robotics, CS, EE, or related field completed or near completion.
• Experience with motion planning, behavioral planning, trajectory optimization, or multi-agent modeling.
• Publications in top-tier conferences and strong C++ real-time programming skills.
• Internship applicants: strong pathway to full-time engineer after program.

Responsibilities

• Implement novel solutions for Behavioral Planning, enabling high-level decision-making for lane changes, merges, yields, and multi-agent interactions.
• Design and optimize motion planning algorithms that integrate geometry-based path reasoning and context-aware speed reasoning into smooth, safe trajectories.
• Develop and improve core geometry and velocity planning systems to ensure feasibility, compliance, and comfort across driving scenarios.
• Model complex driving environments and agent behaviors to create a robust world representation for planning under uncertainty.
• Formulate cost functions and optimization frameworks that balance safety, comfort, and efficiency in trajectory selection.
• Analyze, test, and debug system performance through simulation and real-world data, conducting root-cause investigations and proposing enhancements.
• Collaborate with researchers and engineers across Perception, Prediction, and Control to ensure an integrated autonomy stack.

Skills

C++ real-time programming

Analytical and communication skills

Education

PhD in Robotics/CS/EE

Job description

DiDi is seeking a motivated PhD graduate with a research focus on motion planning, robotics, or autonomous systems to design and integrate planning capabilities for autonomous vehicles. The role emphasizes algorithm design, system integration, and collaboration across teams.

You will contribute to behavioral planning, trajectory optimization, and multi-agent interactions, while applying C++ in real-time contexts and exploring connections with perception, prediction, and control modules.