Software Engineering Internship - Perception

Who We Are

Aurora (Nasdaq: AUR) is delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly to make transportation safer, increasingly accessible, and more reliable and efficient than ever before. The Aurora Driver is a self-driving system designed to operate multiple vehicle types, from freight-hauling trucks to ride-hailing passenger vehicles. It underpins Aurora’s driver-as-a-service products for trucking and ride-hailing. Aurora is working with industry leaders across the transportation ecosystem, including Continental, FedEx, Hirschbach, PACCAR, Ryder, Schneider, Toyota, Uber, Uber Freight, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, and Werner. For Aurora’s latest news, visit aurora.tech and @aurora_inno on Twitter.

Aurora hires talented people with diverse backgrounds who are ready to help build a transportation ecosystem that will make our roads safer, get crucial goods where they need to go, and make mobility more efficient and accessible for all. We’re searching for a Summer 2025 Perception Software Engineering Intern in Mountain View, CA. 

In this role, you will:

• Complete an impactful internship Perception project, which may involve tasks such as:
  
  • Researching and developing state-of-the art deep learning/machine learning models to improve our perception solutions under challenging and diverse scenarios (e.g., on highways and city streets, long-range and multi-sensor object detection, detection under degraded sensors, etc.).
  • Designing, prototyping, and evaluating machine learning algorithms and DNN architectures for detection of traffic actors, their action recognition, and semantic understanding of various traffic scenes that the Aurora Driver encounters.
  • Working on performance improvements & own validation for a perception capability (e.g., Vehicle tracking, Traffic Lights, etc.)
• Work with a dedicated Mentor for project guidance and coaching, and collaborate closely with other full-time team members
• Learn more about Aurora, connect with other Interns and employees, and develop new skills through events and programming

Required Qualifications

• Actively pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Computer Graphics or a related technical area with a graduation date between December 2025 - May 2026
• Ability to read and develop production quality software in C++ and/or Python
• Experience writing robust, intuitive, high-performance code as demonstrated through previous computer vision and machine learning related internships, work experience, research projects or conferences/publications (ie. CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, IJCV, ICML, NeurIPS, JMLR, PAMI, etc.)
• Passion for solving challenging, impactful problems as part of a team, and a “win together” mindset

Desirable Qualifications:

• Experience with end-end detection & tracking, foundation models or end-end perception + planning models are a plus.

Hourly Rate

The base hourly pay rate for this internship is as follows:

$52.00 per hour for interns pursuing an undergraduate degree;
$58.00 per hour for interns pursuing a master’s degree; and
$65.00 per hour for interns pursuing a doctoral degree.

Interns must be authorized to work in the United States for the duration of the internship. Aurora does not offer J-1 visa sponsorship for interns.

Working at Aurora

At Aurora, we bring together extraordinarily talented and experienced people united by the strength of our values. We operate with integrity, set outrageous goals, and build a culture where we win together — all without any jerks.

We have offices in several locations across the United States, where we encourage team and cross-functional collaboration. Aurora offers competitive medical, dental, and vision benefits, and additional healthcare support including medical transportation reimbursement, fertility, adoption, and surrogacy benefits. We empower our employees and their families with options to further their unique physical, mental, and financial well-being.

Our Learning and Development offerings include Aurora Academy, where our people learn, develop, and practice the essential skills that drive Aurora’s mission, continually up-leveling our team along the way. Our Careers page provides insight into career opportunities at Aurora, and you can find all the latest news on our Blog. 

Safety is central to everything we do. Every employee at Aurora has a role in contributing to safety, every step of the way. We seek candidates who take active responsibility, can contribute to building an atmosphere of trust, and invest in the organization's long-term success by working safely — no matter what.

We believe that self-driving technology has broad benefits – including increased access to transportation. To realize those benefits, we need a workforce with diverse experiences, insights, and perspectives — a workforce that reflects the communities our technology will serve.

Aurora is committed to providing access to anyone who seeks information from our website. We invite anyone using assistive technologies, such as a screen reader or Braille reader, to email us at careersiteaccommodations@aurora.tech  if they experience difficulty using our website. Please describe the accessibility problem and include a URL (if available).

Aurora considers candidates without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy status, parent or caregiver status, ancestry, political affiliation, veteran and/or military status, physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal or state law. Aurora considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at careersiteaccommodations@aurora.tech. 

For California applicants, information collected and processed as part of your application and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Aurora’s California Employment Privacy Policy.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At Aurora, every employee is empowered to take an active role in building an inclusive, collaborative, and unified culture that leverages our diverse strengths, perspectives, and backgrounds. 

Transforming how the world moves people and goods involves seeking to understand backgrounds, insights, and lived experiences that differ from our own. One way we accomplish that is with our 15 employee-led Aurora Unified Groups, which support diverse voices and drive inclusive collaboration. We believe that teamwork, belonging, and trust motivate and support our employees to do their best work. As our team grows, we strive to attract and retain exceptional talent that adds new perspectives and experiences and continues to drive innovation. Learn more on our Culture Page.

We are committed to helping qualified military community members leverage their talents in service of our mission. To understand how your military experience aligns with career opportunities at Aurora, review your military job classification at MyNextMove.org and consider applying for open positions corresponding to your identified skills and experiences!