2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Research, Perception Foundation Models

AI in this role

Research and evaluate perception foundation models for autonomous driving applications as a summer intern at Waymo.

pytorchtensorflowjaxpython

computer-visiondeep-learningautonomous-drivingmachine-learningresearch

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 zero shot object detection models for autonomous driving
Collaborate with research and engineering teams to improve Waymo’s foundation models
Conduct cutting-edge research and potentially communicate research findings to the wider academic community via technical reports and/or publications

You have:

Currently pursuing a Masters or 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 open-set perception models (e.g. SAM)
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 Masters Pay$70—$70 USDThe 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

How we rate this

2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Research, Perception Foundation Models at Waymo rates 90 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Open the description and count.

Key facts

2027 Summer Intern, MS/PhD, Research, Perception Foundation Models is an open job at Waymo.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed pay is $70/hr.
The role is based in Mountain View, CA, USA.
The job was posted on October 7, 2026.
Seniority: intern.
Applications are handled by Waymo. Apply on Waymo

Prepare for this job

A free preview built only from this posting: what it asks for, what you could be asked in an interview, and how to adjust your resume.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Computer VisionDeep LearningAutonomous DrivingMachine LearningResearchPyTorchTensorFlowJax

Questions you could be asked

Walk me through a computer vision problem you solved, from raw data to a deployed model.
Tell me about a project where deep learning was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where autonomous driving was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where research was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Computer Vision, Deep Learning, Autonomous Driving, Machine Learning, and Research. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them — a tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped — this role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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