Internship, Software Engineer, Autonomy Systems Foundations (Fall 2025)

Consider before submitting an application:
This position is expected to start around August or September 2025 and continue through the Fall term (ending approximately December 2025) or continuing into Winter/Spring 2026 if available and there is an opportunity to do so. We ask for a minimum of 12 weeks, full-time and on-site, for most internships. Our internship program is for students who are actively enrolled in an academic program. entry level candidates seeking employment after graduation and not returning to school should apply for full-time positions, not internships.
As a C Software Engineer within the Autonomy group, you will have the opportunity to apply your technical skills to a variety of system components & foundational code targeting higher performance of Self-Driving and Humanoid robot. The nature of the role means that the code you will write, debug, and maintain will almost always connect with a variety of other components. You will be building robust code foundations for the autonomy teams to write their applications on top of and evangelize best software practices for the better of Self-Driving and Humanoid robot. You will be developing system tools to benchmark, characterize and optimize the latency and throughput of the autonomy workloads on the Full-Self-Driving chip. You will write tests and integrate with our evaluation pipeline to ensure the system and functional stability of our stack.

Responsibilities

• Write, debug and maintain robust C/C software to the entire Autopilot and Humanoid robot software stack
• Depending on needs and your interests/skills, you might work on code related to our high-frame rate Camera & Vision stack, write GPU kernels, design and implement low memory footprint image compression libraries, implement high-performance inter-process communication data buffers, improve/extend our image & raw data logging/telemetry code, or make our evaluation/replay software more stable and performant
• Optimize hardware resources usage, leverage custom hardware components where appropriate
• Advocate for best coding practices amongst the group, build tools helping engineers to write better code (for instance, performance/memory tracking)
• Generalize software frameworks when necessary while keeping in mind that too much abstraction can sometimes become a bottleneck

Requirements

• Pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or relevant field of study with a graduation date between December 2025 -May 2026
• Must be able to relocate and work on site in Palo Alto, CA
• Strong proficiency in C/C
• Experience or familiarity with Computer Vision, Machine Learning & related software concepts a plus
• Experience with performant software design, object-oriented C , compiler design and/or hardcore lower-level C code a plus, but preferred.
• Proficient developing software on a Linux host, for embedded Linux targets (cross-compilation, etc.) a plus

Compensation and Benefits
Benefits

As a full-time Tesla Intern, you will be eligible for:

• Aetna PPO and HSA plans > 2 medical plan options with $0 payroll deduction
• Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans. Both have an option with a $0 payroll contribution
• Company Paid (Health Savings Account) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High Deductible Medical Plan with HSA
• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
• Company Paid Basic Life, AD&D, and short-term disability insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Sick time after 90 days of employment and Paid Holidays
• Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
• Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
• Commuter benefits
• Employee discounts and perks program
Expected Compensation

$125000.00 - $150000.00 benefits

Pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements dependent on the position offered. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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