Human Interactive Driving Research Intern, Decision-Making for Driving at the Limits

Toyota Research Institute•Los Altos, CA

7d•$45 - $65•Hybrid

About The Position

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is seeking a research intern for its Extreme Performance Intelligent Control team. The team develops techniques to advance vehicle safety and performance using optimization, machine learning, and computer vision. Its research aims to support cooperative high-performance driving through predictive models and control frameworks for extreme vehicle maneuvering. The intern will develop new methodologies for high-performance driving in areas such as optimization, embodied reasoning, control, modeling, and perception. The role involves implementing, deploying, and evaluating algorithms on high-performance cars, including experiments on a closed racetrack. This is a paid, 12-week Summer 2026 internship based at TRI headquarters in Los Altos, California, with a hybrid, in-office work arrangement. Interns will present research results verbally and in writing at international conferences and internally.

Requirements

Be a Ph.D. candidate working in robotics, (differentiable) optimization, machine learning, control, Bayesian modeling, computer vision, embodied reasoning, or a related field.
Be proficient in at least one of the following: Python, C++, ROS(2), PyTorch, or JAX.
Have experience deploying algorithms on real-world platforms.
Have excellent collaboration and communication skills.
Have a strong interest in pushing the limits of vehicle autonomy and embodied AI.

Responsibilities

Develop new optimization, modeling, embodied reasoning, and/or perception algorithms.
Implement, deploy, and evaluate models and algorithms on high-performance cars.
Present results verbally and in writing at international conferences and internally.