Ask HN: How to get a job working with self-driving cars?

Cruise is hiring: http://www.jobscore.com/jobs2/cruiseautomationinc

Apply and talk with them directly. The worst case scenario is that they don't even respond (unlikely) and I bet in the average case you might not get a job but you're learn a lot and have a fun conversation.

Learn everything there is to know about SLAM. And then perhaps contribute to open-source navigation projects and the like.

I have a few friends/acquaintances that work (or are looking for work) in this field and all of them have graduate degrees with research specifically focused on vehicle controls, autonomy, and mapping. Most of the work on the autonomy systems will probably require something similar, since it is still a research heavy field.

There are software systems within autonomous (and non-autonomous) vehicles that won't require such a specific academic background, but they would probably require some level of experience with embedded systems or systems programming.

If you're starting from scratch, many of them have recommended the following book as an approachable introduction to the field: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Autonomous-Mobile-Intelli....

Within the research community, ROS (http://www.ros.org) seems to be the standard platform. So perhaps put ROS on something and play around with it? You have to start somewhere.

Is this a long term goal or a short term goal? If you are serious about this as a career you should look at a relevant PhD program. Getting a PhD is free (unless you count the lost salary while you are making $30k a year working towards the degree). A PhD isn't usually recommended if you are planing to work in industry, but since this is a new field is is probably one of the exceptions and would give you a fast track towards the specific skills you would need.

I am at Boston University, and I know of at least one autonomous vehicle lab here. Most big universities will have something similar.