Software Engineer

Los Altos, CA
Automated Driving Advanced Development – Automated Driving Advanced Development /
Full-time /
Hybrid
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 in Automated Driving, Energy & Materials, Human-Centered AI, Human Interactive Driving, Large Behavioral Models, and Robotics.


The Automated Driving Advanced Development division at TRI will focus on enabling innovation and transformation at Toyota by building a bridge between TRI research and Toyota products, services, and needs. We achieve this through partnership, collaboration, and shared commitment. This new division is leading a new cross-organizational project between TRI and Woven by Toyota to conduct research and develop a fully end-to-end learned driving stack. This cross-org collaborative project is harmonious with TRI’s robotics divisions' efforts in Diffusion Policy and Large Behavior Models.


We are looking for a Software Engineer to join our growing team and contribute to the integration and deployment of our automated driving stack on real-world vehicles. As a generalist engineer, you will work across the autonomy system, helping implement features, set up infrastructure, and improve the performance and robustness of our real-time autonomy stack. You’ll work alongside senior engineers and researchers across TRI and Woven, gaining exposure to multiple parts of the system while deepening your expertise in modern robotics and vehicle software.
This role is ideal for an engineer with a strong foundation in C++ and Python, an interest in real-world systems, and a desire to grow in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. You'll partner closely with end-to-end machine learning, simulation and infrastructure teams to ensure that the full stack runs robustly on real vehicles in closed-course, public road and simulation testing.


This work is part of Toyota’s global AI efforts and will be conducted in close collaboration with teams across TRI, Woven by Toyota, and other engineering partners.

Responsibilities

    • Collaborate with senior engineers to develop software components across the autonomy stack in C++ and Python.
    • Help bring up features in closed-course and simulation environments and support real-world road tests.
    • Contribute to tools for diagnostics, logging, and real-time debugging of end-to-end ML systems.
    • Participate in platform integration tasks, such as launch config, sensor interfacing, and runtime adaptation.
    • Build and maintain test harnesses, CI integration, and system-level validation tools.
    • Follow engineering best practices in code reviews, documentation, and testing.

Qualifications

    • Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field.
    • 3+ years of relevant industry experience in robotics, embedded, or distributed systems.
    • Proficiency in modern C++ (C++14 or newer) and Python.
    • Familiarity with Linux development, systems programming, or real-time software.
    • Comfort with collaborative development, hands-on debugging, and hardware-in-the-loop workflows.
    • Enthusiasm for learning from and contributing to a multi-disciplinary, cross-functional team.

Bonus Qualifications

    • Experience in automated driving, robotics, or simulation-based system testing.
    • Hands-on experience with embedded systems development, including work on platforms such as NVIDIA Jetson Orin, Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride, or similar automotive-grade SoCs.
    • Familiarity with containerized development or deployment (e.g., Docker).
    • Experience working with distributed compute systems, large-scale data logging, or introspection frameworks.
    • Understanding of automotive software practices and standards (e.g., ISO 26262, safety-critical development).
Please include links to any relevant open-source contributions or technical project write-ups with your application.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $152,000 and $228,000/year for California-based roles; however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Note that TRI offers a generous benefits package (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as vacation, sick time, and parental leave) and an annual cash bonus structure. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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