Autonomous Vehicle Engineer
Autonomous Vehicle Engineer: Build Self-Driving Perception Systems for an AV Startup. A 4–8 weeks Intravarsity career experience (30–50 hours) for school and
You'll work remotely with an AV startup from Silicon Valley. Using the CARLA driving simulator and the same computer vision tools used in production autonomous driving, you'll build a complete self-driving perception pipeline — and your code will be reviewed by real AV engineers.
Build perception, planning, and control systems for a real autonomous vehicle startup. Implement lane detection, object tracking, and path planning in simulation — the same stack used in production.
Who it is for
High school, secondary school students & undergraduates. Python basics recommended. Interest in robotics or automotive engineering.
Weekly plan
Week 1: AV Fundamentals & Computer Vision
- Meet the AV startup team and understand their autonomous driving stack
- Set up CARLA simulator and complete your first autonomous drive
- Implement lane detection using OpenCV from camera feeds
- Build object detection with pre-trained YOLO models
Week 2: Sensor Fusion & Tracking
- Combine data from cameras, LIDAR, and radar sensors
- Implement Kalman filtering for multi-object tracking
- Build a 3D world model from fused sensor data
- Review your pipeline with the startup's perception engineer
Week 3: Path Planning & Control
- Implement path planning algorithms (A*, RRT) for navigation
- Design behavior planning for intersections and lane changes
- Build a PID controller for steering and speed
- Handle edge cases — pedestrians, construction zones, weather
Week 4: Integration & Demo
- Integrate your complete AV stack and run end-to-end simulation
- Analyze failure cases and write a safety analysis report
- Present your demo to AV engineers and robotics founders
- Receive Proof-of-Work credential and AV startup recommendation
What you produce
- Simulated self-driving system
- Safety analysis report
- Demo video of autonomous driving
- AV startup recommendation
- Intravarsity Proof-of-Work credential
Skills
Computer Vision (OpenCV), Python, CARLA Simulation, Sensor Fusion, Path Planning, Control Systems (PID), Deep Learning (YOLO), Safety Analysis
Commitment
~5–8 hours/week for 4–8 weeks (30–50 hours total). 100% Virtual — work remotely with a Silicon Valley AV startup.