Safety Researcher, Computational Behavior Modeling

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.

The Waymo Safety team works to promote and help to continuously improve the safety of Waymo’s fully autonomous driving technology. Our experts develop safety goals and strategies, and conduct safety engineering analyses to ensure safety is being considered throughout the design and development of our vehicles. The team develops and promotes safety strategies and policies for autonomous vehicles for its work with regulatory authorities, lawmakers, law enforcement and public and non-profit organizations. Our Safety Team also helps advise on compliance with applicable environmental, health, and safety regulations.

 

In this hybrid role, you will report to the Senior Staff Safety Researcher, Human Behavior.

 

You will:

• Be a technical leader in the area of computational road user behavior modeling
  
• Research and develop metrics and computational models of road user cognition and behavior for use in Waymo's safety evaluation methodologies
• Work closely with other Waymo teams, in particular the the Simulation and AI Foundations teams, to productionize behavioral metrics/models in Waymo’s simulation infrastructure
• Explore and innovate novel modeling concepts and ideas in research projects with external academic partners
• Publish your work in scientific journals and conferences 

 

You have:

• A doctoral degree in a field that involves a combination of computational/mathematical modeling and cognitive science/ behavioral science
• At least 5 years of experience, and a strong publication record, in computational modeling of human and/or animal cognition and behavior
• Strong coding and mathematical skills
• Strong collaboration and communication skills 

 

We prefer:

• Experience in active inference-based modeling
• Experience in modern AI-based modeling (world models, learning paradigms etc.)
• Experience in traffic safety research

Travel:
Travel is required for this role and can be up to 10%. Travel would consist of attending global academic conferences and traveling to Waymo's headquarters.

The expected base salary range for this full-time position is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level.  Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo’s discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.

Salary Range£113,000—£119,000 GBP