AI Research Scientist, Behavior (Beyond Imitation)

Who we are:

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle mile logistics, delivers goods safely and efficiently using its fleet of light & medium-duty trucks. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 customers including Kroger, Walmart, Tyson Foods, Loblaw, Pitney Bowes, Georgia-Pacific, and KBX; enabling them to optimize their hub-and-spoke supply chain operations, enhance service levels and product flow across multiple locations while reducing labor costs and meeting an unprecedented expectation for faster deliveries. Gatik’s Class 3-7 autonomous box trucks are commercially deployed in multiple markets including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada.

About the role:

We're currently looking for research scientists with specialized skills in Autonomous Driving Behavior, including, but not limited to, prediction and planning, going beyond imitation learning, and addressing closed-loop discrepancy issues. You will play a vital role in developing ML models that accurately predict the behavior of surrounding agents and plan and select optimal trajectories for our AVs. In this pivotal role, you'll be instrumental in designing and refining the ML algorithms that enable our trucks to safely navigate and operate in complex, dynamic environments. You will collaborate with a team of experts in AI, robotics, and software engineering to push the boundaries of what's possible in autonomous trucking.

What you'll do:

• Develop novel algorithms in agent behavior prediction and AV planning in interactive scenes
• Conduct research on combined prediction and planning models 
• Work on Reinforcement Learning and other approaches to Planning beyond Imitation Learning
• Develop robust prediction and planning metrics for assessing the behavior systems in closed loop
• Push forward the cutting-edge AI closed-loop methods for use in the Autonomy Stack for both Planning and Selection
• Test ML models in simulation to ensure robust performance and generalization
• Analyze model performance and identify areas for improvement, iterating on design and implementation to enhance quality and reliability
• Participate in the AI Research team activities targeting internal education and external scientific image
• Work closely with the Production teams to push your idea into the deployment
• Propose new ideas and build on top of state-of-the-art knowledge

What we're looking for:

• You have a Ph.D. in one or more of the following areas: Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, or a related field
• You have at least 1-3 years of hands-on experience in one or more of the following areas: Autonomous Driving (preferable), Robotics, or Deep Learning in general 
• You have at least 1-3 years of research experience in one or more of the following areas: Reinforcement Learning (preferable), Behavior Prediction and/or Planning, Statistics, Probability theory
• Deep knowledge of Autonomous Driving Behavior including
  • Reinforcement Learning modeling: different forms of guidance, sampling optimization, probability estimation
  • Imitation vs Reinforcement Learning specifics
  • Planning vs Selection
  • Prediction vs Planning
  • Open vs Closed loop
  • Closed-loop training
  • Hierarchical Planning
  • Transformer Decoding
• Experience with simulation environments for autonomous vehicles, such as CARLA, Waymax, or similar platforms
• Strong foundation in data structures, algorithm design, and complexity analysis
• Expertise in programming languages and tools critical for high-performance computing in Python/C++ and machine learning including Deep Learning frameworks like TensorFlow/PyTorch 
• Demonstrated ability to publish research findings in any of the top-tier technical journals and conferences (ICRA, CoRL, IROS, ICLR, ICML, NeurIPS, AAAI, IJCAI, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, etc.)
• You are passionate about Autonomous Driving!

More about Gatik:

With headquarters in Mountain View, CA and offices in Canada, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, Gatik is establishing new standards of success for the autonomous trucking industry every day. Visit us at Gatik for more company information and Jobs @ Gatik for more open roles.   Gatik News:

• Gatik AI Website
• Tyson Foods Takes First Taste Of Autonomous With Gatik
• The 10 most innovative companies in transportation of 2023
• America’s Best Startup Employers of 2023 by Forbes
• America’s Best Startup Employers of 2022 by Forbes
• Gatik been named as a 2023 FreightTech 25 winner!
• Gatik named a TIME Best Invention of 2022
• Apeksha Kumavat recognized on the Inc. 2022 Female Founders 100 List
• Gatik’s Gautam Narang on the importance of knowing your customer
• Gatik CEO Gautam Narang was Named Among the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2022 by Goldman Sachs

Taking care of our team: At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.   We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.