PhD Research Intern, Offline Driving Intelligence

This internship opportunity is with the Offline Driving Intelligence team working on ML-Agents, within Zoox’s broader Foundation Models organization. The team focuses on creating agents that behave like humans (in driving simulation environments). We are developing multi-agent simulation, tackling open research problems at the frontier of large-scale reinforcement and imitation learning.

Interns on this team will have the opportunity to develop state-of-the-art agent policies, contribute to publishable research, and receive mentorship from experienced researchers in the field. Interns will work with a mentor to address a major open research question currently facing the team. There is a direct path from the novel research of this internship to being used in production as part of the simulation system that tests Zoox’s autonomous driving software.

Requirements

• Currently working towards a Ph.D., or advanced degree in a relevant engineering program
• Good academic standing
• Able to commit to a 12-week internship during one of the following summer 2026 cohorts: May 18th - August 7th OR May 26th - August 14th OR June 15th - September 4th
• Ability to relocate to the Bay Area, CA or Seattle, WA for the duration of the internship
• Interns at Zoox may not use any proprietary information they are working on as part of their thesis, any published work with their university, or to be distributed to anyone outside of Zoox

Qualifications

• Experience with imitation learning (both behavior cloning and closed-loop methods)
• Experience with online reinforcement learning
• Advanced understanding of Python, PyTorch, and Jax
• Experience working in large codebases as part of a team
• Has authored publications in top ML/robotics conferences (e.g. NeurIPS, CVPR, ICRA, etc)

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with autonomous driving
• Experience with robotics planning
• Experience with inverse reinforcement learning
• Experience with multi-agent reinforcement learning

Compensation:

The monthly salary for this position is $9,500. Compensation will vary based on geographic location. Additional benefits may include medical insurance, and a housing stipend (relocation assistance will be offered based on eligibility).

About Zoox

Zoox is developing the first ground-up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility-as-a-service in urban environments. We’re looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team.

Accommodations

If you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process please reach out to [email protected] or your assigned recruiter.

A Final Note:

You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Zoox, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.