Perception & Mapping Intern

Aurora; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Aurora is seeking Summer 2027 Perception & Mapping Interns to help advance the Aurora Driver's ability to see and understand the world, including object detection, sensor fusion, and map models.

You will collaborate with full-time engineers, work on datasets and pipelines across training, evaluation, and visualization, and contribute to the next generation of perception or mapping systems.

Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in CS, Robotics, or Electrical Engineering or related field.
• Strong ML and computer vision fundamentals.
• Hands-on deep learning with PyTorch, including model training and debugging.
• Proficiency in Python and C++.
• Experience with large real-world datasets across training, evaluation, and debugging.
• Built and trained a perception or mapping model end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Develop onboard/offboard perception or mapping models to improve AV performance.
• Process sensor data to detect and track objects, actors, signs, and hazards.
• Analyze, root-cause, and help resolve system deficiencies like false positives/negatives.
• Work with large real-world datasets across training, evaluation, and visualization pipelines.
• Collaborate with full-time engineers on next-gen perception or mapping systems.

Skills

ML fundamentals

Computer vision

PyTorch

Python

C++

Large datasets

End-to-end models

Education

Master’s or PhD in CS/Robotics/EE

Tools

VLMs

Kalman filtering

HMMs

Job description

Who We Are

Aurora’s mission is to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.

What We Are Looking For

We're searching for Summer 2027 Perception & Mapping Interns. You'll work on the models that let the Aurora Driver see and understand the world - object detection and tracking, sensor fusion, semantic segmentation, VLMs, environmental/sensor conditions, and the ML-based map models and data that ground the system.

In this role you will

• Develop onboard and/or offboard perception or mapping models to improve autonomous vehicle performance
• Process sensor data (camera, radar, lidar) to detect and track objects, actors, signs, traffic lights, and hazards
• Analyze, root-cause, and help resolve system deficiencies such as false positives/negatives and misclassifications
• Work with large real-world datasets across training, evaluation, and visualization pipelines
• Partner with full-time engineers to contribute to the next generation of the perception or mapping system

Required Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
• Strong ML and computer vision fundamentals
• Hands-on deep learning experience in PyTorch (or comparable), including model training and debugging
• Proficiency in Python and C++
• Comfort working with large datasets across training, evaluation, and debugging pipelines
• Has built and trained a perception or mapping model end-to-end, not only fine-tuned an existing backbone

Desirable Qualifications

• Experience with VLMs or other pretrained foundation models
• Prior publication record at a top-tier venue
• Knowledge of object tracking, Kalman filtering, or Hidden Markov Models

Compensation

The hourly pay rate for this internship in Mountain View or San Francisco is:

• $58.00 per hour for interns pursuing a master’s degree; and
• $65.00 per hour for interns pursuing a doctoral degree.

The hourly pay rate for this internship in Pittsburgh is:

• $52.00 per hour for interns pursuing a master’s degree; and
• $58.00 per hour for interns pursuing a doctoral degree.

Working at Aurora

At Aurora, we bring together extraordinarily talented and experienced people united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and build a culture where we win together - all without any jerks.

We believe in-person work increases collaboration, empathy, and our ability to lead effectively. As a result, Aurorans are expected to work from the office at least 3 days per week, with some roles requiring more frequent in-office presence, up to 5 days per week, based on operational needs.

Our Careers page provides insight into what it is like to work at Aurora, and you can find all the latest updates in our Newsroom.

Our commitment to safety

At the core of everything we do is our commitment to safety. Building best-in-class self-driving technology will take time, and we believe that each employee at Aurora has a role in contributing to safety, every step of the way. Aurora expects commitment to our safety policies from every employee, and seeks candidates who take an active responsibility, can contribute to building an atmosphere of trust, and invest in the organization’s long-term success by prioritizing working safely, no matter what.

Our commitment to inclusion

Aurora considers candidates without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law. Aurora considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at [e-mail].

For California applicants, information collected and processed as part of your application and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Aurora’s California Employment Privacy Policy.