Waymo
2027 Summer Intern, PhD, Research Scientist Intern
Mountain View, CA, USA +1 · Internship · Posted Oct 30, 2026
- Location
- Mountain View, CA, USA
Mountain View, California, United States - Education
- Currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative field.
About the job
Research next-generation critic foundation models for autonomous driving, including prototyping solutions to model and system bottlenecks.
What you'll do
- Use Alphabet foundation models and relevant literature to build a foundation critic model.
- Investigate issues such as shortcut learning and input sensitivity, and prototype research solutions, including an auto-researcher loop.
- Ideally lead a medium-to-large-scale end-to-end research project to develop Waymo’s next-generation critic model.
What they ask for
- Currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative field.
- Foundational machine-learning knowledge, including pre-LLM-era ML.
- Expert knowledge of LLM, VLM, and VLA.
- Strong software development experience in Python and debugging capability.
Nice to have
- Strong knowledge of RL.
- Understanding of how modern “thinking” mode works.
Pay
$85 USD per hour (hourly PhD pay)
Tools
Python
AI focus
Research and develop foundation critic models using foundation models; address shortcut learning and input sensitivity, explore model “thinking” modes, and prototype an auto-researcher loop.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative