About the role

Aplyr's Quick Take

This role is for a Research Scientist focused on developing and implementing advanced algorithms for world modeling in autonomous driving. You'll work on generative and predictive models, collaborating with engineers to integrate your research into practical applications. It's primarily an individual contributor role with some mentoring responsibilities.

Good fit

Ideal candidates will have a Ph.D. in a relevant field and extensive experience in machine learning or computer vision. A strong background in Python and a collaborative mindset will help you thrive here.

Worth noting

The role emphasizes publishing research at top conferences, which may appeal to those looking to advance their academic credentials. The focus on mentoring suggests a supportive environment for junior scientists.

Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is the leader in Physical AI. With a world-class team, we're unlocking the next era of autonomous transportation with technology that's powering commercial autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi is backed by and partners with world leaders in AI, automotive, logistics, and deep tech.

With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai

Waabi’s autonomous-driving stack is powered by Waabi World, which aims to deliver realistic, scalable, controllable, and efficient simulation. As a Research Scientist in World Models, you will develop algorithms and productionize the next generation of World Models that can reason about complex, dynamic 4D environments.

This role focuses on large-scale world models for temporal reasoning and generation, including video models, multimodal generative models, LLM/VLM/VLA models, and predictive models of traffic participants and scenes. Your work will directly power Waabi World’s ability to model future evolution, synthesize realistic safety-critical scenarios, and provide rich generative priors for downstream planning, testing, and training.

You will…

- Conduct fundamental and applied research in generative and predictive world-modeling

• Video generation and prediction.

• Latent diffusion / autoregressive / flow-matching models.

• Multimodal foundation models for driving scenes.

• LLM / VLM / VLA methods for scene understanding, reasoning, and control.

• Generative scenario modeling and controllable simulation.

• Model distillation.

- Collaborate with engineers to integrate models into large-scale, distributed training and rendering pipelines.

- Publish high-impact research at top conferences (CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICRA, SIGGRAPH).

- Mentor junior scientists and interns; foster a culture of scientific rigor and rapid experimentation.

- Stay on top of emerging advances in generative AI, differentiable rendering, knowledge distillation/compression, and robotics.

Qualifications:

- Demonstrated technical innovation: You have a Ph.D. in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related field or equivalent research experience pushing the boundaries of a technical field..

- Strong prototyping and implementation: You have expert-level Python & PyTorch (or JAX) skills; strong software-engineering fundamentals and experience with distributed training.

- Expert domain knowledge: You have built generative or predictive models of the physical world with scale and efficiency in mind for real-world applications

- Team player: You have worked in a close-knit team of researchers and engineers and have strong communication to deliver successful projects.

Bonus:

- Proven ability to translate research into production-quality code and measurable product impact.

- Demonstrated publications (first-author) in top-tier venues on topics such as world models, generative simulation, video prediction, diffusion, flow-matching, or foundation models for autonomy.

Skills & Tags

python go machine learning ai ios product

Aplyr's read

Waabi is advancing autonomous vehicle technology with a focus on AI-driven safety and efficiency, attracting engineers and policy experts to innovate in transportation.
Synthesized from recent postings & public sources

What's promising

•Waabi's focus on AI solutions aims to significantly enhance vehicle safety.
•The company is actively hiring specialized roles, indicating growth and investment in talent.
•Waabi's work in autonomous vehicles could revolutionize transportation efficiency.

What to watch

•Autonomous vehicle technology faces significant regulatory and public acceptance hurdles.
•The industry is highly competitive, with established players like Waymo and Tesla.
•Developing reliable AI for autonomous driving is a complex and lengthy process.

Why Waabi

•Waabi emphasizes AI-driven solutions specifically for safety in autonomous vehicles.
•The company is building a diverse team, from engineers to policy experts.
•Waabi's approach integrates cutting-edge AI with practical vehicle testing and operations.

Aplyr’s read is generated by AI from public sources. Was it useful?

About Waabi

Waabi

waabi.ai

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Waabi is a technology company focused on developing artificial intelligence solutions for autonomous vehicles, aiming to improve safety and efficiency in transportation.