2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Perception, Machine Learning
About this role
Developing robust spatial-temporal representation and semantic understanding of complex environments is the central challenge for this internship at Waymo. The Perception team builds the core systems that enable autonomous vehicles to interpret their surroundings, collaborating closely with downstream integration groups and Alphabet research partners. Interns tackle practical research and engineering problems using massive datasets from diverse sensor suites, focusing on large-scale model training, real-world behavioral analysis, and hardware optimization.
Participants collaborate directly with industry leaders on projects designed to deliver tangible improvements to the autonomous driver stack. Ideal candidates bring strong academic foundations in computer science or robotics alongside practical expertise in modern machine learning frameworks. This on-site opportunity in Mountain View provides hands-on experience with large-scale infrastructure while serving as a key pipeline for future technical talent.
What you will do
- Design and implement advanced multi-modality and multi-task perception models utilizing camera, radar, lidar, and audio inputs.
- Work across project areas including 3D object detection and tracking, open vocabulary detection, and 3D occupancy detection.
- Contribute to semantic segmentation, large-scale foundation models, and self-supervised pre-training through forecasting.
- Train and evaluate machine learning models using high-fidelity data sourced from extensive driving logs.
- Utilize large-scale machine learning infrastructure while collaborating effectively within a technical team environment.
What you need
- Enrollment in a PhD program in Computer Science, Robotics, or a related technical field of study.
- Alternatively, enrollment in a master's program accompanied by a strong publication record.
- Demonstrated programming experience using Python.
- Hands-on background building machine learning models with JAX, PyTorch, or TensorFlow.
Nice to have
- Strong track record of high quality ML or CV research
- Publications at top-tier conferences like CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICLR, ICML, ICRA, IROS, RSS, NeurIPS, AAAI, IJCV, or PAMI
- Experience in object detection, segmentation, multiple-object tracking, audio perception, or occupancy detection
Benefits
- Generous benefits programs subject to eligibility requirements
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the location and work policy for this internship?
This internship will be based on-site at the headquarters in Mountain View, CA. The posting notes it operates as a hybrid onsite internship position.
What is the compensation for this role?
The expected hourly rate for masters students is $70 USD. For PhD candidates, the expected hourly rate is $85 USD.
What does the Perception team actually do?
The Perception team builds the system which learns spatial-temporal representations and semantic meanings of the surrounding environment of the self-driving car. They work jointly with downstream teams on optimization and integration into the Waymo Driver.
How can I apply for multiple roles?
To be in consideration for multiple roles, you will need to apply to each one individually. Applicants are asked to apply to the top 3 roles they are interested in.