Senior Systems & Safety Engineer – Drive--Wire

Who we are

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world's first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.

The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.

The Drive-by-Wire (DbW) system is the critical execution boundary where software decisions meet physical vehicle dynamics. As the Senior Systems & Safety Engineer for Drive-by-Wire, you will be responsible for the safety design, hazard mitigation, and functional safety integration of steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, throttle, shift-by-wire, and auxiliary chassis actuation on Gatik's autonomous trucks. You will work closely with vehicle OEMs, DbW suppliers, and internal controls engineers to guarantee fail-operational motion control and ASIL D safety guarantees.

This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Santa Clara, CA office!

• DbW Safety Architecture: Define the functional safety architecture for redundant steering, braking, and propulsion control systems integrated into Gatik's vehicle platforms.
• OEM & Actuation Integration: Collaborate with commercial vehicle OEMs and Tier-1 DbW providers to evaluate DbW interfaces, safety manuals, and functional safety compliance (ISO 26262).
• Fault Reaction & Degraded Modes: Establish actuation fault management strategies, including fallback transition times, emergency stop execution, dynamic authority limits, and minimum risk maneuvers (MRM).
• System Analysis & Diagnostics: Perform detailed HARA, FMEA, and FTA analyses on physical actuation channels and interface protocols.
• Safety Requirements Traceability: Author top-level vehicle safety requirements for motion control interfaces and trace them to DbW controller firmware, CAN signals, and safety monitors.
• On-Vehicle Validation Support: Partner with testing teams to design physical fault-injection campaigns on test tracks to confirm actuation fallbacks under high-speed and heavy-payload conditions.

• Education: B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, or Automotive Engineering.
• Experience: 6+ years in vehicle chassis systems, drive-by-wire actuation, or automotive vehicle safety, with extensive ASIL D development experience.
• Domain Mastery:
• Proficient in vehicle dynamic modeling, brake/steering topologies (e.g., dual-motor steering, primary/secondary electronic brake boosters).
• In-depth understanding of automotive communication protocols: CAN, CAN-FD, Flex Ray, and Automotive Ethernet.
• Direct mastery of ISO 26262 ASIL D safety standards and FMVSS regulations.
• Tooling: Proficient with CAN analysis tools (Vector CANoe, CANalyzer), MATLAB/Simulink, and signal analysis software.

• Hands-on experience developing or integrating redundant DbW systems on commercial trucks.
• Experience with functional safety certification of chassis hardware/software according to ISO 26262.
• Expertise in vehicle stability control (ESC), ABS, and automated emergency braking (AEB) functional integration.

Salary Range - $160,000- $240,000

Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the first and only company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.

We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy. By choosing the middle mile - with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik's well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.

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