Tesla AI Engineering Intern, Summer 2026 — Inside the Palo Alto Role (Req 259784)
Tesla AI Engineering Intern, Summer 2026 (Req 259784) in Palo Alto: responsibilities, requirements, pay, and how to apply. Onsite role inside Tesla AI working on FSD, Optimus and Dojo.
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_ADSENSE_ID to enableAt a glance
Tesla — AI Engineering Intern, Summer 2026
Company
Tesla
Location
Palo Alto, CA
Type
Internship · Onsite
Term
12+ weeks · Summer 2026
Pay
$40–$60+/hour
Posted
May 28, 2026
Req
259784
Tesla is hiring an AI Engineering Intern for Summer 2026 in Palo Alto, California — Requisition 259784 — and it's exactly the kind of role that builds an AI portfolio in a hurry. Interns sit inside the team training the neural networks that power Full Self-Driving (FSD), the Optimus humanoid robot, and Dojo, Tesla's purpose-built AI training supercomputer.
About the role
This is a 12+ week, onsite internship at Tesla's Palo Alto AI office. Most interns start between May and June 2026 and run through August or September. Reporting into Tesla AI, you'll contribute production-grade code, not throwaway side projects.
What you'll do
- Train and benchmark large neural networks for vision, planning, or control in autonomous systems.
- Optimize inference for vehicle hardware — every milliwatt and millisecond matters at fleet scale.
- Work on the Dojo training stack, distributed data pipelines, or simulation infrastructure.
- Ship code into the production training loop that powers millions of cars.
What Tesla looks for
- Enrolled in a Bachelor's or Master's in CS, AI/ML, ECE, or related (recent grads considered).
- Strong Python and C++; CUDA is a major plus.
- Hands-on experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow; coursework or projects in deep learning, computer vision, or reinforcement learning.
- GPA 3.5+ preferred; US work authorization (Tesla typically does not sponsor intern roles).
Compensation and benefits
Tesla pays AI interns competitively for the Bay Area — typically $40–$60+/hour, with housing or transport support often available, free meals on campus, and direct mentorship from senior AI engineers. Strong interns are routinely offered full-time conversion at the end of the program.
How to apply
Apply directly through the Tesla careers portal — search for Req 259784 or use the link below. There is no public hiring email; everything routes through the applicant system, and AI roles fill fast.
Why this matters for your career
The skills this role exercises — training at billion-parameter scale, optimizing for edge deployment, working across the AI/hardware boundary — sit at the center of the AI and Auto trends shaping the rest of this decade. Even if you don't land this one, the prep work (CUDA, distributed training, fleet learning) compounds.
Browse our Career Guidance desk for fresh AI, EV and future-tech internship listings every week.
Ready to apply? Apply on Tesla Careers →
Apply through Tesla Careers's applicant system — these roles fill quickly.
More Summer 2026 internships
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_ADSENSE_ID to enable