I have a background in robotics and autonomous vehicles (AV) with ~7 years experience. Currently working in the AV space in the Bay Area.

What I've gathered from AV is there are many opportunities to work in research and development (R&D) with companies who strive to reach SAE level 4 (L4) autonomy. However, I've found if you are with a company long enough, the R&D efforts evolve into meetings regarding functional safety (FuSa), development blockers are created from technical debt that is caused by lack of investment in CI/CD, or some change direction based upon new goals of the company/business group.

Has anyone else in AV seen this? What are your thoughts? Anyone transition to robotics from AV?

My goal is to find a role where I am being challenged technically, and learning from others. I understand no company is perfect and each has it ups and downs, but has anyone found an AV or robotics company that keeps their development/products interesting and evolving with time?