2026 Summer Intern – MS/PhD – Perception

Motional • Boston, MA

4h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Perception Interns will support the development and evaluation of perception systems that enable intelligent understanding of the environment. This role involves working with multi-modal sensor data, computer vision models, Vision-Language models, and perception pipelines to improve detection, recognition, and tracking capabilities. Motional is a driverless technology company making autonomous vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality. We’re driven by something more. Our journey is always people first. We aren't just developing driverless cars; we're creating safer roadways, more equitable transportation options, and making our communities better places to live, work, and connect. Our team is made up of engineers, researchers, innovators, dreamers and doers, who are creating a technology with the potential to transform the way we move. Higher purpose, greater impact. We’re creating first-of-its-kind technology that will transform transportation. To do so successfully, we must design for everyone in our cities and on our roads. We believe in building a great place to work through a progressive, global culture that is diverse, inclusive, and ensures people feel valued at every level of the organization. Diversity helps us to see the world differently; it’s not only good for our business, it’s the right thing to do. Scale up, not starting up. Our team is behind some of the industry's largest leaps forward, including the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and operation of the world's longest-standing public robotaxi fleet. We’re driven to scale; we’re moving towards commercialization of our technology, and we need team members who are ready to embrace change and challenges. Formed as a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, Motional is fundamentally changing how people move through their lives. Headquartered in Boston, Motional has operations in the U.S and Asia. For more information, visit www.Motional.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Motional AD Inc. is an EOE. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. To comply with Federal Law, we participate in E-Verify. All newly-hired employees are queried through this electronic system established by the DHS and the SSA to verify their identity and employment eligibility.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing a Masters/PhD degrees in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics or a related field
• Proficient at Python and/or C++
• Coursework or project experience in computer vision, machine learning, and data processing
• Familiarity with popular deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
• Experience with image/video processing tools and libraries

Nice To Haves

• Experience with 3D perception, point cloud processing, or multi-sensor fusion
• Exposure to robotics, autonomous systems, or real-time perception pipelines
• Knowledge of evaluation frameworks and datasets

Responsibilities

• Assist in building and refining perception algorithms for 3D object detection, tracking, segmentation, and scene understanding
• Analyze sensor data (e.g., images, video, lidar, radar) to improve model accuracy and robustness
• Support data preprocessing, labeling, augmentation, and validation workflows
• Conduct experiments to benchmark perception models and propose improvements
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Behaviors, Actions, Platforms teams) to integrate perception outputs into downstream decision-making systems
• Document findings, tools, and results in clear and reproducible formats

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees