Motional’s Pittsburgh office is located in the new Hazelwood Green development, a culmination of the city’s goal of restoring an economic driver to the neighborhood in a thoughtful, inclusive, and sustainable way. With views along the Monongahela river, the Pittsburgh office is in the heart of this new state of the art development.
Mission Summary: The Senior Engineer Team Lead is responsible for the validation of the autonomous vehicle stack with a primary emphasis on the interface between software and physical hardware. This role leads the development and execution of Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing strategies to ensure that perception, planning, and control algorithms interact safely and reliably with vehicle sensors, actuators, and ECUs.
You will be the technical authority for HIL bench architecture and hardware-software integration, ensuring that the "brain" of the vehicle commands the physical "body" with millisecond precision and fail-safe reliability.
Essential Duties:
- HIL Strategy & Architecture: Lead the design, setup, and maintenance of high-fidelity HIL test benches (e.g., dSPACE, NI, or Speedgoat). Define the hardware-software mapping required to simulate real-world vehicle dynamics.
- Hardware-Software Integration: Own the validation of the Drive-by-Wire (DBW) system, ensuring steering, braking, and acceleration commands meet safety-critical latency and accuracy requirements.
- Fault Injection & Robustness: Design and execute complex hardware fault-injection campaigns (e.g., sensor signal loss, CAN bus flooding, power interrupts) to validate system-level safety monitors.
- Communication Protocol Expert: Direct the testing of automotive communication networks, including CAN, CAN-FD, Automotive Ethernet, and LIN, using tools like Vector CANoe/CANalyzer.
- Multi-Modal Validation: While focusing on hardware, maintain oversight of SIL and closed-course testing to ensure HIL results correlate with virtual and physical track performance.
- Mechatronic Debugging: Lead root-cause analysis for complex electromechanical issues, utilizing oscilloscopes, multimeters, and logic analyzers to debug signal integrity and power distribution.
- Tooling & Automation: Architect Python-based automation frameworks for HIL regression suites, reducing manual bench time and increasing test coverage.
- Safety Compliance: Act as a lead reviewer for ISO 26262 functional safety requirements, specifically focusing on Hardware-Software Interface (HSI) specifications.
Qualifications:
- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Mechanical Engineering, or Robotics.
- Experience: 5+ years in Systems/Hardware testing, with at least 3 years focused on HIL simulation within the automotive or aerospace industry.
- Technical Mastery:
- Hardware: Expert knowledge of ECUs, sensors (Lidar/Radar/Camera), and