Software Engineer - Motion Planning (Fallback Stack)

About Applied Intuition

Applied Intuition powers the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and valued at $15 billion, this Silicon Valley leader creates digital infrastructure for autonomous systems across automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining, and agriculture. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers and the United States military trust Applied Intuition's solutions. The company has offices globally including Sunnyvale, San Diego, London, Stuttgart, Munich, Stockholm, Bangalore, Seoul, and Tokyo.

The Role

As a Motion Planning Engineer on the Fallback Stack team, you will design and ship deterministic, safety-critical planning systems that ensure autonomous vehicles behave safely when autonomy degrades or operates under uncertainty. This role emphasizes classical motion planning, predictable behavior, and large-scale evaluation rather than deep learning–driven approaches.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement classical or ML motion planners for fallback and minimal-risk maneuvers
• Build planners that operate reliably under degraded perception, partial observability, and system faults
• Define and execute safe, deterministic vehicle motions including controlled slow-downs, pull-overs, and safe stops
• Use large-scale simulation and real-world data to evaluate planner behavior and guide parameter tuning
• Develop metrics, analysis tools, and dashboards to understand planner performance at scale
• Collaborate with behavior prediction, perception, controls, safety, and remote assistance teams
• Contribute to a reusable fallback platform used across trucking and autonomy programs

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or motion planning
• Strong foundation in classical planning algorithms, control theory, or trajectory optimization
• Proficiency in Python, C++, or similar languages
• Experience with large-scale simulation and data-driven evaluation
• Collaborative mindset with ability to work cross-functionally in customer-focused environments

Work Arrangement

Full-time employees are expected to work primarily from Applied Intuition offices 5 days per week. The company recognizes flexibility for occasional remote work and family commitments, with arrangements managed responsibly by employees.