For way-point tracking of an autonomous underwater vehicle, a state feedback controller was designed by using pole placement scheme in discrete time domain. In the controller, 4 state variables were used for regulating the depth of the vehicle in z direction, and 3 state variables, for steering the vehicle in xy plane. Assuming constant speed of AUV, we simplified the design of the way-point tracking system. The proposed controller was simulated by MATLAB/Simulink using 6 degree-of-freedom nonlinear model and its performance of way point tracking was shown to be fulfilled within 1 m, nevertheless the proposed controller is quite simple and easy to implement compared to sliding mode controller.