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.
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.
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.