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Automated Driving Advanced Development Intern, Machine Learning Research

Pay
$45–65/hourLocation-specific pay — pay source
Publications at venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, CoRL, ICRA, RSS The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's experience, skills, job-related knowledge, and market location. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. Please reference this Candidate Privacy Notice to inform you of the categories of personal information that we collect from individuals who inquire about and/or apply to work for Toyota Research Institute, Inc. or its subsidiaries, including Toyota A.I. Ventures GP, L.P., and the purposes for which we use such personal information.
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Work setting
Hybrid — work setting source
Work setup in the employer’s posting: hybrid
From the employer’s posting
Employment
Internship — employment source
Employment type in the employer’s posting: Intern
From the employer’s posting

Before you apply

New graduates
For current studentsJob title: Automated Driving Advanced Development Intern, Machine Learning Research

What you’ll work on

Full posting
  • You will work with TRI researchers to define and pursue a research question aligned with your interests and the team’s ongoing work.

  • Define a focused research question and experimental plan with your mentor, informed by your interests and the team’s research priorities.

  • You’ll lead an independent research project shaped around your interests and the team’s ongoing work.

From the employer’s posting
The Internship We are seeking a research intern to investigate foundation models and generative AI for autonomous driving. You will work with TRI researchers to define and pursue a research question aligned with your interests and the team’s ongoing work. Potential directions include multimodal reasoning and agents; generative models for action, world modeling, and simulation; and learning and evaluation through interaction. These directions are flexible, and we welcome ideas that connect them or bring a complementary perspective. You’ll lead an independent research project shaped around your interests and the team’s ongoing work. Potential directions include language and vision-language models, coding agents, generative driving policies, world models and simulation, and learning from closed-loop feedback. You’ll work with Toyota driving data and closed-loop simulation infrastructure, with the goal of producing work suitable for a research paper submission. The internship offers an opportunity to own a focused research contribution while collaborating on broader questions in physical intelligence. Outcomes may include research prototypes, technical reports, and contributions to publications.
Responsibilities Define a focused research question and experimental plan with your mentor, informed by your interests and the team’s research priorities. Develop methods in one or more relevant areas, such as multimodal agents, generative policies, world models, simulation, or learning from interaction.
We are seeking a research intern to investigate foundation models and generative AI for autonomous driving. You will work with TRI researchers to define and pursue a research question aligned with your interests and the team’s ongoing work. Potential directions include multimodal reasoning and agents; generative models for action, world modeling, and simulation; and learning and evaluation through interaction. These directions are flexible, and we welcome ideas that connect them or bring a complementary perspective. You’ll lead an independent research project shaped around your interests and the team’s ongoing work. Potential directions include language and vision-language models, coding agents, generative driving policies, world models and simulation, and learning from closed-loop feedback. You’ll work with Toyota driving data and closed-loop simulation infrastructure, with the goal of producing work suitable for a research paper submission. The internship offers an opportunity to own a focused research contribution while collaborating on broader questions in physical intelligence. Outcomes may include research prototypes, technical reports, and contributions to publications. The Opportunity

What you’ll bring

All qualifications

Core experience

  • Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch for implementing and evaluating research ideas, along with an understanding of version control, testing, and software engineering fundamentals.
  • Experience with driving or robotics simulators such as CARLA or with neural rendering.
  • Ability to work independently on an open-ended research problem, and to communicate methods and results clearly.
  • Experience with language or vision-language models, agent systems, or multimodal reasoning.
  • Experience with diffusion or flow models, generative policies, video generation, or world models.
  • Experience working with real-world sensor data, such as video, lidar, IMU, or radar.
Qualification wording
Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch for implementing and evaluating research ideas, along with an understanding of version control, testing, and software engineering fundamentals.
Experience with driving or robotics simulators such as CARLA or with neural rendering.
Ability to work independently on an open-ended research problem, and to communicate methods and results clearly.
Experience with language or vision-language models, agent systems, or multimodal reasoning.
Experience with diffusion or flow models, generative policies, video generation, or world models.
Experience working with real-world sensor data, such as video, lidar, IMU, or radar.
Education & alternatives
Qualifications - Currently pursuing a Ph.D. or master’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Electrical Engineering, or a related field. - Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch for implementing and evaluating research ideas, along with an understanding of version control, testing, and software engineering fundamentals.

Posting record

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Actively hiringFirst seen by us today, still listed, and not a repost of an earlier posting.

Status in our records
Live
First seen by us
Nov 12, 2026today
Recorded sightings
1

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How this job compares

Pay

$118K–$195K is typical

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Tootsie Roll Industries is hiring

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Where the posting names them
- Currently pursuing a Ph.D. or master’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Electrical Engineering, or a related field. - Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch for implementing and evaluating research ideas, along with an understanding of version control, testing, and software engineering fundamentals. - Research experience in one or more of the following: computer vision, natural language processing, generative modeling, reinforcement learning

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Has Tootsie Roll Industries posted this job before?

Yes. We’ve followed 2 other Automated Driving Advanced Development Intern, Machine Learning Research jobs there since November 2026. All 2 are still up.

  1. Los AltosStill up after 7 days, first seen Nov 5
  2. Los AltosStill up after 2 days, first seen Nov 10
  3. This jobUp 0 days so far, first seen Nov 12

About Tootsie Roll Industries

People
About 2,100 in 2025, down 9% from the year before.Annual report (SEC Form 10-K)
Company
Part of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. Listed as TR.

Demand for Data Scientist roles

New Data Scientist postings at the employers we follow are down 4% over the last 6 weeks compared with the 6 before.

Weekly new Data Scientist postings at the same employers, from the week of August 17 to the week of November 2. The fewest in a week was 1,403, the most 2,949, and the latest week had 2,098.
August 17Last week

Each bar is one week of new postings. The darkest bars are the last 6 weeks.

Counted from the hiring pages we’ve followed for at least five weeks, so employers we add don’t look like growth. Updated weekly.

About the role

We file this job under Data Scientist, by the work the posting describes.

Data scientists use statistics and models to answer harder questions, such as whether a change worked, what demand will look like next quarter, or which customers are likely to leave.

Postings usually ask for Python or R, SQL, statistics, experiment design and common machine learning methods.

Unlike an ML engineer, a data scientist's main output is often an analysis or a first model, not software running inside a product.

US government figures for data scientists

Median yearly pay, May 2025
$120,230
Expected change, 2025 to 2035
34.6% more jobsagainst 3.5% for all jobs

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025) and Employment Projections (2025 to 2035). Occupation code 15-2051.

Job description

View original posting ↗

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team advancing the state of the art in AI, robotics, driving, and material sciences.

This is a paid 12-week internship opportunity and is a hybrid, in-office role.

Here’s a glimpse into the Internship experience from some of our TRI interns!


The Team

The Automated Driving Advanced Development division bridges TRI research and Toyota products. In partnership with Woven by Toyota, the team is researching and developing an end-to-end learned driving stack that maps sensor inputs directly to planned trajectories.

The Internship

We are seeking a research intern to investigate foundation models and generative AI for autonomous driving. You will work with TRI researchers to define and pursue a research question aligned with your interests and the team’s ongoing work. Potential directions include multimodal reasoning and agents; generative models for action, world modeling, and simulation; and learning and evaluation through interaction. These directions are flexible, and we welcome ideas that connect them or bring a complementary perspective.

You’ll lead an independent research project shaped around your interests and the team’s ongoing work. Potential directions include language and vision-language models, coding agents, generative driving policies, world models and simulation, and learning from closed-loop feedback. You’ll work with Toyota driving data and closed-loop simulation infrastructure, with the goal of producing work suitable for a research paper submission. The internship offers an opportunity to own a focused research contribution while collaborating on broader questions in physical intelligence. Outcomes may include research prototypes, technical reports, and contributions to publications. 

The Opportunity

As a research intern on AD2, you will own a standalone research project in sim-to-sim and sim-to-real domain mapping, with the opportunity to:

  • Drive your own research: Shape the approach, run experiments, and analyze results, with the independence to set your own direction.

  • Publish your findings: The project is designed to produce results suitable for publication.

  • Shape a real autonomy model: The tools and insights you create will help the team improve our autonomy models, with the potential to influence the autonomy stack eventually deployed in Toyota vehicles.

  • Collaborate with experienced researchers: Work closely with a small team of industry-leading researchers with deep experience in robotics and autonomous driving.

  • Work at scale: Use the same large-scale Toyota driving data, base models, and simulation infrastructure the team uses every day.

You can learn more about our work on the Automated Driving Advanced Development team page.

Responsibilities

  •  Define a focused research question and experimental plan with your mentor, informed by your interests and the team’s research priorities.
  • Develop methods in one or more relevant areas, such as multimodal agents, generative policies, world models, simulation, or learning from interaction.
  • Build research prototypes using open-source datasets, large-scale Toyota driving data, the team’s closed-loop simulation infrastructure 
  • Design experiments and evaluate generalization, robustness, efficiency, or closed-loop behavior, as relevant to the project.
  • Collaborate with TRI researchers and engineers to analyze results, investigate failure modes, and refine the research approach.
  • Communicate findings through reproducible experiments, research presentations, and technical writing, including publication contributions where appropriate.

Qualifications

  • Currently pursuing a Ph.D. or master’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
  • Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch for implementing and evaluating research ideas, along with an understanding of version control, testing, and software engineering fundamentals.
  • Research experience in one or more of the following: computer vision, natural language processing, generative modeling, reinforcement learning 
  • Demonstrated research ability, such as publications, preprints, or substantial independent research projects.
  • Ability to work independently on an open-ended research problem, and to communicate methods and results clearly.
  • Able to work in a hybrid in-office arrangement at TRI’s headquarters in Los Altos, California, for the full 12-week internship.

Bonus Qualifications

  • Experience with driving or robotics simulators such as CARLA or with neural rendering.
  • Experience with language or vision-language models, agent systems, or multimodal reasoning. 
  • Experience with diffusion or flow models, generative policies, video generation, or world models.
  • Experience working with real-world sensor data, such as video, lidar, IMU, or radar.
  • Experience with autonomous driving, robotics, simulation, or closed-loop learning and evaluation.
  • Publications at venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, CoRL, ICRA, RSS
The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's experience, skills, job-related knowledge, and market location. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.
 
Please reference this Candidate Privacy Notice to inform you of the categories of personal information that we collect from individuals who inquire about and/or apply to work for Toyota Research Institute, Inc. or its subsidiaries, including Toyota A.I. Ventures GP, L.P., and the purposes for which we use such personal information.
 
TRI is fueled by a diverse and inclusive community of people with unique backgrounds, education and life experiences. We are dedicated to fostering an innovative and collaborative environment by living the values that are an essential part of our culture. We believe diversity makes us stronger and are proud to provide Equal Employment Opportunity for all, without regard to an applicant’s race, color, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, religion, marital status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state or local laws.
 
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.

Employment type

Intern

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Pay
Publications at venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, CoRL, ICRA, RSS The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's experience, skills, job-related knowledge, and market location. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. Please reference this Candidate Privacy Notice to inform you of the categories of personal information that we collect from individuals who inquire about and/or apply to work for Toyota Research Institute, Inc. or its subsidiaries, including Toyota A.I. Ventures GP, L.P., and the purposes for which we use such personal information.
Location & working pattern

Los Altos, CA

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team advancing the state of the art in AI, robotics, driving, and material sciences. This is a paid 12-week internship opportunity and is a hybrid, in-office role. Here’s a glimpse into the Internship experience from some of our TRI interns!
More source context
- Ability to work independently on an open-ended research problem, and to communicate methods and results clearly. - Able to work in a hybrid in-office arrangement at TRI’s headquarters in Los Altos, California, for the full 12-week internship. Bonus Qualifications
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