Vehicle Platform Systems Engineer

Aurora Innovation Aurora Innovation · Robotics · PIT3 · Hardware

This role focuses on investigating and resolving complex issues within the vehicle platform systems of Aurora's self-driving technology. The engineer will lead end-to-end field investigations, design and execute testing, develop mitigations, iterate system requirements based on field data, and coordinate across multiple engineering teams. The role requires strong analytical skills for triaging system-level data and a deep understanding of automotive system architecture and fault analysis. The primary output is improved system reliability and performance through rigorous investigation and requirement refinement.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead End-to-End Field Investigations: Work hands on to drive technical investigations for complex drive-by-wire and base vehicle system behaviors in the fleet from initial triage through root cause identification and final resolution.
  2. Design and Execute Investigative Testing: Develop and execute structured test plans to reproduce issues in controlled environments, utilizing track testing, fault-injection, HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) testing, and customized test tools as necessary.
  3. Develop Technical Mitigations: Propose and validate short-term and long-term mitigations for field issues, including software changes, hardware/architecture revisions, or operational constraint modifications.
  4. Iterate System Requirements: Close the feedback loop by translating field data into updated functional requirements (e.g. new detection methods, escalating fault responses) to improve product performance.
  5. Cross-Functional Technical Coordination: Act as the primary technical point of contact between Hardware Engineering, Embedded Software, Controls Engineering, Field Service and Safety teams to implement and validate multi-layered fixes for complex system-level behaviors.

Skills

Required

  • Complex System Troubleshooting
  • System-Level Data Triage
  • Automotive System Architecture
  • Architecture Analysis
  • Requirement Translation
  • Validation of Field Mitigations
  • Technical Communication
  • Collaborative Problem Solving

Nice to have

  • drive-by-wire systems
  • automated vehicles
  • robotic systems
  • autonomy logs
  • telematics and diagnostic tools
  • CAN traces
  • J1939 CAN
  • LIN
  • Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing
  • FMEAs

What the JD emphasized

  • complex drive-by-wire and base vehicle system behaviors
  • diagnosing issues related to system interactions on automated vehicles or other robotic systems
  • analyzing large amounts of data from different sources
  • automotive and commercial vehicle communication networks and standards (J1939 CAN, LIN)
  • common cause and cascading faults, as well as fault tolerant and fail-operational architectures