Nanodegree Program

Become a Self Driving Car Engineer

Self-driving cars are set to revolutionize the way we live. This is transformational technology, on the cutting-edge of robotics, machine learning, software engineering, and mechanical engineering. In this program, you’ll learn the skills and techniques used by self-driving car teams at the most advanced technology companies in the world.

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  • Time
    2 Three-Month Terms

    Study 15 hrs/week and complete in 6 mo.

  • Applications Due By
    July 24, 2018
  • Prerequisites
    Python, C++, Mathematics

    See prerequisites in detail

Built in partnership with
  • Mercedes
  • Nvidia
  • Uber ATG
  • Didi
  • BMW
  • McLaren

Why Take This Nanodegree Program?

If your goal is to learn the skills necessary to become a self-driving car engineer, and then secure a rewarding role in the field where you can start applying those skills, this program is the ideal choice. The Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program is one of the only programs in the world that both teaches you the right skills, and supports you in obtaining a job.

Through interactive projects in computer vision, robotic controls, localization, path planning, and more, you’ll prepare for a successful career in the incredible field of autonomous systems.


Why Take This Nanodegree Program?

As a self-driving car engineer, you have the potential to help save over 1 million people per year!

A One-Of-A-Kind Program
A One-Of-A-Kind Program

A One-Of-A-Kind Program

Sebastian Thrun and the Udacity Self-Driving Car team are pioneering educators in this field, and Udacity offers the only program of its kind, where you can learn everything you need to know to launch a successful career as a self-driving car engineer.

World-Class Curriculum

World-Class Curriculum

In this program, you’ll learn from the some of the most innovative companies in this field. Companies like Mercedes-Benz, NVIDIA, and more. Their teams are defining the future of autonomous transportation, and they helped us build this incredible curriculum.

Valuable Hiring Partnerships
Valuable Hiring Partnerships

Valuable Hiring Partnerships

Our hiring partners are some of the most forward-looking companies in the world, and they're looking for Udacity graduates to fill critical roles right now. These partnerships represent a unique opportunity to benefit from fast-tracked consideration for open roles at partner companies. This affords you a distinct leg up in your job searches.

Real-World Learning

Real-World Learning

In addition to the groundbreaking work you’ll do in simulation, you’ll have the opportunity to run your code on a real self-driving car!

Advance your Career

This program was built in collaboration with Self Driving Car engineers to ensure you learn the right skills necessary to succeed. Demand is skyrocketing and excitement is running high, but it’s important to see past the headlines to learn what it really takes to be a qualified Self Driving Car engineer. This program prioritizes mastering job-ready skills with a hands-on approach.Designed to prepare you for career success in Self Driving Car engineering.

Hiring PartnersMeet Top Companies

Self Driving Car engineers are in high demand. Create your professional portfolio with Udacity and open up a world of opportunities. Our hiring partners are eager to meet you.Create your portfolio and open up a world of opportunities.

Succeed with RecruitersSucceed with Recruiters

Work with experienced career professionals for tailored advice on how to improve your search and impress recruiters, including feedback on your LinkedIn, GitHub, and professional brand.Work with career professionals to impress recruiters.

Build a Great NetworkBuild a Great Network

40,000+ highly-skilled grads make up your new career community. Ready to collaborate, share referrals, or hire your own team? The Udacity Alumni Network is here for you!Connect with our global community to grow your career.

What You Will Learn

Download Syllabus
TERM 1

Computer Vision, Deep Learning, and Sensor Fusion

In this term, you'll first apply computer vision and deep learning to automotive problems. You will teach the car to detect lane lines, predict steering angles, and more, all based on just camera data. Next, you'll learn sensor fusion, which you'll use to filter data from an array of sensors in order to perceive the environment.

In this term, you'll apply computer vision, deep learning, and sensor fusion to automotive problems.

See details

3 months to complete

TERM 2

Localization, Path Planning, Control, and System Integration

In this term, you'll expand on your sensor knowledge to localize the vehicle. You'll evaluate sensor data from camera, radar, lidar, and GPS, and use them to determine the vehicle’s precise location in the world. After that, you'll learn how to plan where the vehicle should go, and how the vehicle systems work together to get it there. Next, you’ll build a controller to use the steering wheel, accelerator, and brake in order to move the car along a target trajectory. Finally, you’ll work with a team to pull all of your knowledge together and program Carla, Udacity’s real self-driving car!

In this term, you'll expand on your sensor knowledge to localize the vehicle, as well as plan its path. You’ll use the steering, accelerator, and brake to control the vehicle. Finally, you’ll use all of your knowledge to program a real self-driving car!

See details

3 months to complete

“There's an enormous market for self-driving car engineers. Lots and lots of companies that you wouldn't suspect have entered that field and are massively hiring.”

— Sebastian Thrun, Udacity

Learn with the best

Sebastian Thrun
Sebastian Thrun

Udacity President

Scientist, educator, inventor, and entrepreneur, Sebastian led the self-driving car project at Google X and founded Udacity, whose mission is to democratize education by providing lifelong, on-demand learning to millions of students around the world.

David Silver
David Silver

Curriculum Lead

David Silver leads the Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree Program. Before Udacity, David was a research engineer on the autonomous vehicle team at Ford. He has an MBA from Stanford, and a BSE in computer science from Princeton.

Ryan Keenan
Ryan Keenan

Course Developer

Ryan has a PhD in Astrophysics and a passion for teaching and learning. He is also a lead instructor in the Robotics Nanodegree program. When he’s not building Udacious learning content you’ll find him up in the mountains or out in the surf.

Cezanne Camacho
Cezanne Camacho

Course Developer

Cezanne is an expert in computer vision with an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Inspired by anyone with the drive and imagination to learn something new, she aims to create more inclusive and effective STEM education.

Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz Team

Mercedes-Benz R&D North America develops the world’s most advanced automotive technology and vehicle design with luxury and style. The team from Mercedes built our Sensor Fusion, Localization, and Path Planning content.

NVIDIA
NVIDIA

Nvidia Team

NVIDIA is a company built upon great minds and groundbreaking research. GPU deep learning has ignited modern AI - the next era of computing - with the GPU acting as the brain of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world.

Uber ATG
Uber ATG

Uber ATG Team

The Advanced Technologies Group is comprised of Uber’s self-driving engineering team dedicated to self-driving technologies, mapping, and vehicle safety.

Student Reviews

4.8

(751)

5 stars
631
84.0%
4 stars
88
11.7%
3 stars
19
2.5%
2 stars
9
1.2%
1 stars
4
0.5%
Bongyong S.

Very Good

Tim H.

I had no idea online training could be so thorough and rigorous. I haven't worked this hard since graduate school! Enjoyed every minute of it. Also would like to mention the level of professionalism and complexity of the web content. The material was well laid out and all of the mechanics of user interaction worked superbly - no flaws. Same for all of the downloads, project code, libraries, etc. - always worked. The level of the instructors was outstanding, the very best in their field. Could not get this level of instructors at a single top-level university. The staff was excellent as well. Always experienced prompt responses. The project reviews where next day, very thorough, and helpful - not just a quick cursory glance. All in all, a great experience.

kiran P.

Program is well designed and well thought out, It was laid out very well. It was hectic in the initial few weeks, trying to grasp what is required and then understanding different concepts, learning from the slack channel, solving other student's problems, ideating, innovating at the same time trying to solve the projects. Overall it was fun and challenging. Great Team by Udacity folks !!! Thanks for the awesome experience. Last but not the least wonderful reviews as well.

Farhan A.

This Nanodegree is an excellent introduction to autonomous driving. It has a mix of classical machine learning, deep learning and robotics and every lesson is taught with a programming quiz and every module has a programming project that involves building some component of a typical self-driving car software stack. As someone with a computer science background with some robotics experience, I enjoyed every bit of this Nanodegree. I was awestruck to find out that many of the techniques taught in the Nanodegree have been used by Google self-driving car and also being used by the latest breed of autonomous vehicles from Mercedes to Baidu. I'd like to see a sequel with more advanced content from computer vision, deep learning and control perhaps centred around a state-of-the-art simulator like Carla or Apollo that includes working with LIDAR and RADAR data, programming the CAN bus, 3D segmentation, object tracking, simulation and more.

Tawn K.

Lots of unique, high quality content and instruction. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Term 1
Self Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree
$1199 USD

total

Build the Future of Transportation, today

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Program Details

    Program Overview - Why Should I Take this Program?
  • Why should I enroll?
    The Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program is one of the only programs in the world to both teach students how to become a self-driving car engineer, and support students in obtaining a job within the field of autonomous systems. The program’s nine projects equip students with invaluable skills across a wide array of critical topics, including deep learning, computer vision, sensor fusion, localization, controllers, vehicle kinematics, automotive hardware, and more. As part of their capstone project, students have the rare opportunity to run their code on an actual autonomous vehicle owned by Udacity.
  • What jobs will this program prepare me for?
    Our wide-ranging curriculum will prepare you for a variety of roles in the autonomous vehicle industry, including: System Software Engineer, Deep Learning Engineer, Vehicle Software Engineer, Localization and Mapping Engineer and many others. If you elect to work outside of automotive engineering, your foundation in deep learning and robotics will enable you to fill any number of related roles in artificial intelligence, computer vision, machine learning, and more.
  • How do I know if this program is right for me?
    This advanced Nanodegree program is ideal for anyone with a programming, technical, or quantitative background who is interested in obtaining a job within the field of autonomous systems, or refreshing or developing their skills within the realm of machine and deep learning, systems integration, sensor fusion, and many others.
  • What is the difference between the Intro to Self-Driving Cars Nanodegree program and the Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program?
    The Intro to Self-Driving Cars Nanodegree program is an intermediate program open to anyone with an interest in autonomous systems, who has some programming experience, and/or a quantitative background. The Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program is an advanced program focusing on in-depth knowledge of autonomous systems. The program requires an application and is designed for those with moderate to high programming, technical, and/or quantitative skills.
    Enrollment and Admission
  • Do I need to apply? What are the admission criteria?
    Yes. To ensure your success in this advanced Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program, we require an application that will take a holistic look at your programming, technical, and quantitative background.
  • Why is there an admission application for this Nanodegree program?
    We have an admissions processes for certain Nanodegree programs where we need information about a student’s background experience in order to ensure the curriculum is appropriate for a student’s individual learning path. For more information on application processes, see here.
  • What are the prerequisites for enrollment?
    Students should have prior experience with the following:Intermediate Python or C++Basic Linear AlgebraBasic CalculusBasic StatisticsBasic PhysicsYou will also need to be able to communicate fluently and professionally in written and spoken English.
  • If I do not meet the requirements to enroll, what should I do?
    We have a number of Nanodegree programs and free courses that can help you prepare, including: Intro to Self-Driving Cars Nanodegree program, Robotics Software Engineer Nanodegree program, and AI for Robotics Course.
    Tuition and Term of Program
  • How is this Nanodegree program structured?
    The Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program is comprised of two (2) three (3)-month terms. Students must complete both terms and all nine (9) required projects to graduate from the Nanodegree program. Each project will be reviewed by the Udacity reviewer network. Feedback will be provided and if you do not pass the project, you will be asked to resubmit the project until it passes.
  • How long is this Nanodegree program?
    Access to this Nanodegree program runs for the period noted in the Term length section above. See the Terms of Use and FAQs for other policies around the terms of access to our Nanodegree programs.
  • Can I switch my start date? Can I get a refund?
    Please see the Udacity Nanodegree program FAQs found here for policies on enrollment in our programs.
  • How much does the program cost?
    The full Nanodegree program consists of two (2) three (3)-month long terms at a cost of USD $1199 for Term 1 and USD $1199 for Term 2, for a total program cost of USD $2398. Payment is due before each term begins.
  • I have graduated from the Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program but I want to keep learning. Where should I go from here?
    Once you have completed the Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program, the Robotics Software Engineer Nanodegree program and the Flying Car Nanodegree program are ideal for continuing your learning.
    Software and Hardware - What Do I Need for This Program?
  • What software and versions will I need in this program?
    For this Nanodegree program, you will need to the minimum equipment requirements outlined here: https://www.udacity.com/tech-requirements.
  • Which version of TensorFlow, Keras, ROS, and C++ are taught in this program?
    The following versions are taught in this program (subject to update):
    • TensorFlow Version 1.3
    • Keras version 2
    • ROS Kinetic
    • Python Version 3
    • C++ Version 11

Self Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree

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