Full-Time

ML/RL Engineer

Behavior Planning

Bot Auto

Bot Auto

51-200 employees

Manages autonomous trucking TaaS fleet

No salary listed

Houston, TX, USA + 1 more

More locations: San Francisco, CA, USA

In Person

On-site role; no remote option stated.

Category
AI & Machine Learning (1)
Required Skills
Python
Neural Networks
Pytorch
Machine Learning
Reinforcement Learning

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Requirements
  • Professional RL Experience: Proven track record of training and deploying deep RL algorithms (e.g., PPO, SAC) for complex, real-world robotic or autonomous systems.
  • Technical Mastery: Expertise in Python and PyTorch; strong understanding of modern deep learning architectures and optimization techniques.
  • Academic Background: MS or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, or a related quantitative field.
  • Scientific Intuition: Ability to diagnose and solve fundamental challenges in RL training, such as variance management and distribution shift.
Responsibilities
  • Behavioral Modeling: Develop and train diverse, conditioned policies that simulate realistic driving behaviors to stress-test and validate our autonomous driving stack.
  • Safety-Constrained Learning: Lead the research and implementation of advanced RL algorithms to ensure safety metrics are treated as primary constraints in the learning process.
  • Reward & Objective Design: Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design robust reward functions and evaluation metrics that balance safety, progress, and comfort.
  • Scalable Training Pipelines: Contribute to the optimization of our large-scale, high-throughput training environments to enable rapid iteration on complex multi-agent scenarios.
  • Model Architecture: Advance our state-of-the-art neural architectures to improve spatial reasoning, long-horizon planning, and interaction modeling.
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely with Simulation and Planning teams to integrate research-grade models into production-quality, safety-critical software.
Desired Qualifications
  • Safe RL Specialization: Experience with constrained optimization or safety-critical learning frameworks.
  • Multi-Agent Systems: Background in MARL training stability, including self-play and decentralized execution strategies.
  • Autonomous Driving Domain: Familiarity with vehicle dynamics and behavior planning, particularly for long-haul highway environments.

Preparing summary...

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Seed

Total Funding

$20M

Headquarters

Houston, Texas

Founded

2023

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Brett Suma adds nearly 30 years of trucking and logistics operating experience.
  • Houston-to-Dallas humanless delivery validates commercial execution beyond pilot testing.
  • Ryan Transportation partnership embeds Bot Auto inside established brokerage workflows.

What critics are saying

  • Texas regulators can restrict driverless operations after a high-profile safety incident.
  • Scaling depends on proving lower cost-per-mile than incumbent and new autonomous rivals.
  • Fleet expansion remains capital intensive, risking slower growth if funding tightens.

What makes Bot Auto unique

  • Founded in 2023 by TuSimple co-founder Dr. Xiaodi Hou.
  • Operates a Transportation-as-a-Service fleet instead of licensing autonomy software.
  • Targets hub-to-hub Texas freight corridors with Level 4 autonomous trucks.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

401(k) Retirement Plan

401(k) Company Match

Paid Vacation

Paid Sick Leave

Paid Holidays

Remote Work Options

Hybrid Work Options

Flexible Work Hours

Parental Leave

Family Planning Benefits

Fertility Treatment Support

Wellness Program

Mental Health Support

Gym Membership

Conference Attendance Budget

Professional Development Budget

Stock Options

Company Equity

Phone/Internet Stipend

Home Office Stipend

Professional Certification Support

Training Programs

Tuition Reimbursement

Mentorship Program

Employee Discounts

Adoption Assistance

Meal Benefits

Commuter Benefits

Relocation Assistance

Performance Bonus

Profit Sharing

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Pet Insurance

Bereavement Leave

Meal Benefits

Legal Services

Commuter Benefits

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-4%

1 year growth

-4%

2 year growth

-4%
PR Newswire
Feb 25th, 2026
Ryan Transportation partners with Bot Auto for driverless freight on Houston-Dallas route

Bot Auto, an autonomous trucking provider, has partnered with Ryan Transportation, a Transport Topics Top 20 freight brokerage, to launch driverless freight operations between Houston and Dallas. Humanless runs are expected to begin this spring. The deployment focuses on an overnight lane covering approximately 200 miles, a route historically difficult to service with human drivers due to tight delivery windows and hours-of-service limits. Bot Auto's autonomous trucks will operate without fatigue constraints, providing consistent, high-frequency capacity. Ryan Transportation, ranked nineteenth on the 2025 Transport Topics Top 100 Freight Brokerage list, will integrate Bot Auto's Transportation as a Service model into its logistics network. The partnership represents a significant step in commercialising autonomous trucking for traditional brokerage operations.

Investors Hangout
Feb 16th, 2026
Bot Auto raises $20M in oversubscribed Pre-A round for autonomous trucking tech

Bot Auto has raised $20 million in an oversubscribed Pre-A funding round led by Brightway Future Venture and Cherubic Venture. The autonomous trucking startup will use the funds to advance research and development, acquire talent and scale operations. The company is developing a Transportation as a Service model focused on autonomous trucks for logistics. CEO Dr Xiaodi Hou emphasised the company's commitment to commercialisation whilst balancing technological readiness with sustainable growth. The funding reflects strong investor interest in autonomous vehicle technology, particularly solutions aimed at improving safety and efficiency in the trucking sector. Bot Auto is positioning itself to address both logistics innovation and environmental sustainability through cleaner autonomous technologies.

PR Newswire
Apr 16th, 2025
Bot Auto Forms Strategic Advisory Board To Accelerate Transformative Vision For American Logistics

HOUSTON, April 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Bot Auto, an autonomous trucking company pioneering the transformation of logistics by providing Transportation as a Service (TaaS) with its Autonomous Trucking solutions, today announced the formation of the company's Strategic Advisory Board. The four founding advisors are distinguished leaders across transportation, innovation, policy and finance. They will help guide the company's mission to transform the way goods move on American highways safely, reliably and with the lowest Cost-Per-Mile (CPM) in trucking.Bot Auto is driving innovation on the road to autonomous trucking. Founded in 2023 and based in Houston, Texas, Bot Auto is a Level 4 autonomous trucking company developing and operating our Transportation as a Service (TaaS) autonomous truck fleet to freight customers. By leveraging advanced technology and our extensive experience in the AV industry, we are transforming goods transportation into the future of sustainable and efficient logistics."We are here to not only build technology, but to be a society-changing company," said Xiaodi Hou, Founder and CEO of Bot Auto. "To do that, we need to see the world in a bigger way from a range of perspectives

Business Wire
Sep 27th, 2024
Bot Auto Secures $20M in Pre-A Funding to Commercially Deploy Autonomous Trucking

Bot Auto, a pioneering company in autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, based in Houston, Texas, announced the successful completion of its Pre-A fundin