At Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America (MBRDNA), we are committed to delivering world-class automotive technologies that push the boundaries of what is possible. Our teams of highly skilled engineers and designers use cutting-edge software and technology, to enhance the driving experience and reduce environmental impact. 
We are seeking a highly motivated student for a research internship to explore and advance Vision-Language Models (VLMs) in the autonomous driving domain. You will work closely with our team of experts to adapt and apply state-of-the-art VLMs to tasks such as scene understanding, semantic reasoning, visual question answering, and multi-modal intent prediction. Your work will directly inform our perception and planning pipelines, influencing how our autonomous systems interpret their environment and communicate about it to users and other stakeholders.

Job Responsibilities:

• Investigate and apply advanced Vision-Language Modeling techniques to autonomous driving challenges, including large-scale transformer-based architectures and multi-modal pre-training.
• Develop and refine vision-language models for tasks such as:
• Captioning and summarizing complex driving scenes
• Visual question answering about objects, actions, and intentions in traffic scenarios
• Aligning textual navigation instructions with visual perception for route planning
• Collaborate with other team members to integrate novel VLM-based solutions into existing autonomous driving frameworks.
• Evaluate and benchmark model performance on internal and public datasets, identifying gaps and proposing improvements.
• Document findings through internal research reports and contribute to publications in top-tier conferences if suitable results are achieved.

Minimum Qualifications:

• MS degree (currently pursuing PhD) in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field, with a strong focus on machine learning, computer vision, and/or natural language processing, etc.)
• 5+ years of relevant work experience
• Major in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field, with a strong focus on machine learning, computer vision, and/or natural language processing.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and training deep learning models, particularly in areas involving multi-modal inputs such as images, video, and text.
• Solid understanding of state-of-the-art vision and language models (e.g., CLIP, BLIP, VLM adaptations of ViT, LLM-integrated frameworks).
• Strong programming skills in Python and familiarity with deep learning libraries (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Currently pursuing or recently graduated from a PhD program in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a closely related discipline
• Publication record in reputable AI/ML/CV/NLP conferences or journals
• Experience with Autonomous Driving algorithms and systems

Benefits/Perks:•PTO•Sick Time
Additional Information:The current hourly rate for this position is as follows and may be modified in the future: $28 (Undergraduate Students)/$32 (Graduate Students)
Why should you apply?Here at MBRDNA, you create digital ecosystems around cars, you design a language between humans and machines, you make a car even more intelligent - you make the new reality for cars. MBRDNA was honored as one of the "Best Places to Work" by BuiltIn in January 2024, a testament to our commitment to creating an exceptional work environment. At each of our offices, we foster a culture of diversity, collaboration, and continuous learning, ensuring every team member can thrive and innovate.
Benefits for Full-Time* Employees Include: • Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families • 401(k) with employer match • Up to 18 company-paid holidays • Paid time off (unlimited for salaried employees), sick time, and parental leave • Tuition assistance program • Wellness/Fitness reimbursement programs • Vehicle lease subsidy or company car (for eligible employees only) * Internships & Contractors excluded from Full-Time Employee benefits

MBRDNA is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) and strongly supports diversity in the workforce. MBRDNA only accepts resumes from approved agencies who have a valid Agency Agreement on file. Please do not forward resumes to our applicant tracking system, MBRDNA employees, or send to any MBRDNA location.  MBRDNA is not responsible for any fees or claims related to receipt of unsolicited resumes.
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