2027 Summer Intern, PhD, Research, World Action Model

Waymo
Mountain View, CA
On-site

Who this role is best for

Strong fit for PhD candidates in AI/ML or robotics who research and implement world action models for autonomous driving, with a preference for those experienced in diffusion models and simulation-based evaluation.

Best fit for

  • PhD candidates with a focus on AI/ML or robotics and a track record of publishing in top-tier conferences
    — “Strong publication record in top-tier AI/ML or robotics conferences”
  • Individuals with hands-on experience in training and evaluating deep learning models for autonomous driving or robotics
    — “Hands-on experience training and evaluating deep learning models for autonomous driving or robotics applications”
  • Researchers with expertise in modern deep learning frameworks and neural network architectures
    — “Strong Python coding skills with expertise in modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow)”

Things to consider

  • Hybrid onsite work arrangement may require significant travel or relocation to Mountain View, CA.
    — “This will be a hybrid onsite internship position”
  • The role may demand a long-term commitment to Waymo’s research pipeline and culture.
    — “Interns are also eligible to participate in the Company’s generous benefits programs”

How to stand out

  • Highlight specific contributions to world action models in autonomous driving on your resume.
    — “Research, implement, and evaluate world action models for end-to-end autonomous driving”
  • Emphasize experience with diffusion or flow matching models and their application in robotics.
    — “Experience with diffusion / flow matching models”
  • Showcase your ability to communicate research findings through technical reports or publications.
    — “Conduct cutting-edge research and potentially communicate research findings to the wider academic community via technical reports and/or publication”
  • Demonstrate familiarity with autonomous driving datasets in your application materials.
    — “Familiarity with autonomous driving datasets”
  • Mention your experience with open-source foundation models in your interview or cover letter.
    — “Experience with open-source foundation models”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • publication record in top-tier AI/ML or robotics conferences
  • hands-on experience training and evaluating deep learning models for autonomous driving or robotics applications
Typical background
Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, Electrical Engineering, or a related field

Skills & requirements

Required

Machine LearningDeep LearningReinforcement LearningPythonNeural NetworksAutonomous Driving

Preferred

Diffusion ModelsWorld Action ModelsAutonomous Driving DatasetsOpen-source Foundation Models

Stack & domain

PythonPyTorchJAXTensorFlowAutonomous DrivingMachine LearningRobotics

About the role

Original posting from Waymo

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.

The mission of the Waymo AI Foundations team is to develop machine learning solutions addressing open problems in autonomous driving, towards the goal of safely operating Waymo vehicles in dozens of cities and under all driving conditions. As part of our work, we also initiate and foster collaborations with other research teams in Alphabet. AI Foundations areas that we are currently focusing on include reinforcement learning, learning from demonstration, generative modeling, Bayesian inference, hierarchical learning, and robust evaluation.

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 world action models for end-to-end autonomous driving

Collaborate with research and engineering teams to improve the Waymo World Model

Conduct cutting-edge research and potentially communicate research findings to the wider academic community via technical reports and/or publication

You have:

Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, Electrical Engineering, or a related field

Strong publication record in top-tier AI/ML or robotics conferences

Hands-on experience training and evaluating deep learning models for autonomous driving or robotics applications

Strong Python coding skills with expertise in modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow)

Deep understanding of modern neural network architectures and learning paradigms

We prefer:

Experience with diffusion / flow matching models

Experience with world action models in autonomous driving or robotics applications

Familiarity with autonomous driving datasets

Experience with open-source foundation models

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

Source: Waymo careers

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