Direct Delivery Field Test Intern

Autolane, Inc. Direct Delivery Field Test Intern Richmond, CA
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Autolane is hiring a Direct Delivery Field Test Intern to run hands-on, real-world tests of our autonomous delivery system in live markets — capturing clean data, documenting edge cases, and flagging issues for the field ops and engineering teams. Ideal for a detail-obsessed, self-starting student who's comfortable working on-site and curious about how autonomous systems get built and proven in the field.

Autolane is the orchestration layer for autonomous last-mile logistics. We're backed by Draper Associates, Hyperplane, and Jason Calacanis, and we're an NVIDIA Inception company.

Our Direct Delivery product line dispatches retailer-operated AVs for first and last-mile drops. We run closed-course validation at the 100-acre joint test campus operated with UC Berkeley ITS and Drive

AI. We are heads-down on V1 launch and we need eyes, hands, and brains on the ground.

This is not a coffee-fetching internship. You'll own real test scenarios, file real bugs, and work directly with the engineering team.

• Run scripted and exploratory test scenarios on Direct Delivery vehicles at the ITS/Drive
  
  AI campus: pickup, dropoff, handoff, retailer-driver edge cases.
• Collect structured telemetry, video, and event logs from every session. File clean, reproducible bug reports.
• Operate the Driver PWA and Autolane Portal during live runs. Surface the UX friction that only shows up in the field.
• Build small dashboards and scripts (Python, SQL, light frontend) to slice run data and surface trends.
• Reproduce production issues on the test campus when engineering needs ground truth.
• Sit in on standups and design reviews. Push back when something looks wrong.

Required

• Current UC Berkeley undergrad (junior or senior) or grad student in EECS, ME, Robotics, IEOR, Data Science, or similar.
• Valid CA driver’s license, clean DMV record, comfortable working in and around test vehicles for 4 to 6 hour blocks.
• Solid Python. Comfortable in a Unix shell, Git, and a real text editor.
• High-signal observer. You notice when something is off, write it down with timestamps, and don’t hand-wave.
• 15 to 25 hours per week, including weekday daytime blocks for field sessions. We work around your class schedule.

Nice to Have

• Prior lab time in PATH, BAIR, Deep Drive, Hybrid Systems Lab, or any AV/robotics group on campus.
• ROS / ROS2, Foxglove, MCAP, rosbag, or any telemetry-adjacent tooling.
• React, Next.js, or other frontend chops. The Portal always has work.
• Prior shipping-product or startup experience over coursework-only experience.

• Real ownership of test work streams that ship to paying customers.
• A direct seat next to the CTO and the core engineering team.
• Exposure to the full Direct Delivery stack: AV fleet integration, Driver PWA, Portal, dispatch, SMS, telemetry pipeline.
• A line on a return offer if it’s a fit on both sides.

• Compensation: $32 to $42 per hour, based on level and skill mix. Paid bi-weekly via 1099 (W-2 available on request).
• Hours: 15 to 25 per week, flexible around classes.
• Location: On-site at the ITS/Drive
  
  AI Berkeley test campus, with remote flex for analysis days.
• Term: Summer 2026 start, with the option to continue through the academic year if it’s a mutual fit.
• Reports to: Chad Agate, CTO.

Send a one-paragraph note on why this role plus a link to something you’ve built (repo, paper, demo, video, anything) to . No cover letters. We respond within 48 hours.

Autolane is an equal opportunity employer. We hire on signal, not credentials.