Join the crew!

Submission Deadline March, 1st, 11:59pm (ET)

The application deadline has passed. We will reopen applications in Fall 2026.

Who Should Apply

We welcome motivated students from all SEAS disciplines. Experience in the following areas is especially useful:

  • Perception: camera, lidar, radar calibration, object detection and tracking

  • Motion Planning and graph search algorithms

  • Vehicle dynamics and aerodynamics simulation

  • Control systems and optimization

  • ROS2 and C++ software development

  • Computer vision

  • Systems integration and real-time software

If you are unsure whether your background fits, you are still encouraged to apply.

Application Process

All interested students:

  1. Submit the online application form, and

  2. Complete a technical take-home assignment based on real race car data and ROS2 tooling.

Every applicant is evaluated holistically based on their background, skills, and take-home submission, with emphasis on problem solving approach, code quality, technical reasoning, and effort rather than perfect results. Both the application and the take-home task must be submitted by the stated deadline, and applicants are encouraged to join the take-home Slack workspace early to ask questions and get clarification while working on the assignment.

Step 1 - Fill the application form




Submission deadline March 1st, 2026, 11:59pm (ET)
This form collects your background, skills, interests, and availability.
Complete Step 2 and then submit the form.

Spring 2026 Application Form [Expired]

Step 2 - Hands on racing data challenge

Before submitting the application, you must complete a small assignmnt based on real race car data and ROS2 tooling.
You will:

  • Work with recorded racecar data

  • Compute vehicle dynamics metrics

  • Implement a ROS2 node

  • Publish and visualize results

  1. Start here:

    https://github.com/linklab-uva/cav_take_home_fall_26

  2. Join the Take-Home Slack workspace for questions and updates: [Join Take-Home Slack workspace]

  3. Provide the URL to your take home submission n the application form and submit by deadline March 1st, 2026, 11:59pm (ET)

Notes:

  • The task is intentionally challenging

  • It is fine if you are new to ROS2 or vehicle dynamics

  • We evaluate your approach, reasoning, and effort, not just perfect output

  • Ask questions in Slack early rather than getting stuck silently