2026 Summer Intern – AI/ML Intern - Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (PhD)

Work Arrangement

Hybrid: This internship is categorized as hybrid. The selected intern is expected to report to the office up to three times per week or as determined by the team.

Locations

San Francisco, California

Sunnyvale, California

Mountain View, California

About the Team

The AI Research organization is dedicated to advancing the state-of-the-art in AI for autonomous vehicles. We are a collaborative, forward-thinking group of researchers and engineers tackling some of the most complex challenges in autonomy and machine learning.

About the Role

As an AI/ML Research Intern on the AI Research team, you’ll work on cutting-edge projects advancing vehicle autonomy, developing algorithms and models that shape the future of self-driving technology. This internship provides experience with real-world AI/ML systems, collaboration with leading researchers and engineers, and mentorship from experienced AV researchers to grow your skills in the autonomous vehicle industry.

What You’ll Do

• Lead research and prototyping of advanced machine learning methods, such as foundation models, vision-language architectures, diffusion models, image/video generation, self-supervised learning, imitation learning, and reinforcement learning.
• Prototype ML models that improve perception, prediction, or decision-making for autonomous driving.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including perception, robotics, and systems engineering.
• Participate in technical discussions, share insights, and work towards publishing results.

Required Qualifications

• Currently pursuing or in the process of obtaining a Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Solid understanding of modern machine learning techniques, especially deep learning architectures (e.g., transformers, generative models, multimodal learning).
• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Research experience in AI/ML, demonstrated through coursework, academic projects, or publications.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a collaborative mindset.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Experience working and communicating cross functionally in a team environment.
• Able to work fulltime, 40 hours per week

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with autonomous vehicles or advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
• Experience working with large-scale datasets and training ML models in high-performance computing environments.
• Intent to return to degree program after the completion of the internship/co-op
• Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as first-authored publications at leading workshops or conferences such as NeurIPS, CVPR, ICML, ICLR, AAAI, ECCV, RSS, ICRA, CoRL, or similar.
• Demonstrated experience and self-driven motivation in solving analytical problems using quantitative approaches
• Experience building systems based on machine learning, reinforcement learning and/or deep learning methods

Compensation

• The monthly salary for this role is $13,100 per month
• GM will provide a one-time lump sum taxable stipend payment to eligible students selected for the 2026 Student Program.

What you’ll get from us (Benefits)

• Paid US GM Holidays
• GM Family First Vehicle Discount Program
• Result-based potential for growth within GM
• Intern events to network with company leaders and peers