Uber

Project Overview

  • Duration: June 2020 - August 2020
  • Team: Engineering team in Self Driving Vehicle Platform division
  • My role: Software Engineer Intern
  • Tools & Frameworks: Go, Protobuf, Kafka

In the summer of 2020, I worked remotely for Uber's Advanted Technology Group (ATG) as a Software Engineer Intern. This division focuses on developing self-driving cars for the future of transportation to make our roads safer and transportation more affordable for everyone.

My time at Uber ATG was spent helping them on the following tasks:

  • Worked with the Rider Experience team to automate a rider start trip flow by developing a guided start trip feature for delivering trip blocking items to the rider through automated cabin checks. This effectively helps reduce both the number and cost of potential remote operator support sessions.
  • Implemented the vehicle hardware state models using Protobuf as well as the entire view models, APIs, and logic for the backend push architecture using Golang and Kafka. This feature is able to consistently assemble and push an updated trip blocking items payload to the mobile app as the vehicle hardware state changes.

I am unable to share a lot of the work I did publicly, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Reflections

While I was not able to work in the office due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I still really enjoyed working with my team remotely. Initially, I was a bit worried about the remote internship because I was uncertain if I would be able to achieve the necessary support and make connections with my team and other interns, but the University team did a great job of providing all the support and making the internship engaging through a plethora of events. I learned a lot regarding all the technology (both software and hardware) and business logic surrounding autonomous vehicles as well as the additional technical complications in turning these vehicles into self-driving Ubers. I felt that I was able to grow stronger and more independent as in engineer especially in making my own architecture and design choices. Additionally, I had a great time working on my project and connecting with my team through virtual socials and game nights. Lastly, I was also able to make a fun group of intern friends from the university Intern Circle program which pairs up the same group of interns to interact each week. Despite the virtual interaction, we had a lot of fun on Zoom through games like Codenames to online escape rooms (which we solved)! Hopefully, someday in the near future, I'll be able to see my work while riding a self-driving car.