2027 Summer Intern, PhD, Machine Learning, Planning/Prediction

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 predicts 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 performat 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 models for planning and predictions
Analysis of results in both open-loop and closed-loop
Conduct machine learning experiment using JAX and Python
Collaborate within and across teams, and present the conclusion / insights in a clear manner
You have:
Currently pursuing a PhD degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or related field
Experience with Transformers architecture and reinforcement learning
Hands-on experience with modern deep learning libraries (eg: TensorFlow, JAX, Pytorch) with basic programming skills (eg: Python)
Strong analytical and debugging skills
We prefer:
Publications in top-tier machine learning or robotics conferences
Prior software development or research industry experience
Background knowledge in the AV industry, particularly for behavior-related research
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