Bridging the Gap in Automated and Connected Vehicle Technology Education

研究和资源的深刻发展正在推动技术进步，很快就会使自动驾驶汽车变得司空见惯。当今领先的半自动联网车辆利用的技术包括雷达、摄像头、激光雷达、多域控制器、无线车对车通信和软件应用程序等。拟议的中学后教师专业发展项目，重点是自动化和联网汽车技术，将服务于NSF的使命，即通过创建行业支持的研讨会和大学教育资源，在学术上加强中学后汽车技师学位课程，促进科学的进步。暑期学院和教师专业发展网络研讨会等项目活动将旨在通过向未来技术人员的教育工作者介绍正在从根本上改变汽车和运输行业的新一代车辆，推动全国车辆技术教育领域的发展。除了专业发展外，通过赠款购买的自动驾驶汽车和其他材料还将用于在中学开展推广活动，包括创建一个由互动演示组成的工具包，旨在引导中学生，教师和辅导员了解汽车技术人员的教育途径和职业。汽车技师教育必须跟上车辆的复杂性，包括机器人技术，机器学习，计算机视觉和机械工程方面。该项目的目标是增加全国汽车技术教育工作者的自动驾驶汽车技术经验和知识，并满足对有能力维护和维修自动驾驶汽车的合格、知识渊博的技术人员日益增长的需求。该项目将每年为40名社区学院教师提供为期一周的专业发展课程、网络研讨会和其他学习活动。该项目还将在中学开展外联活动，传播有关汽车技术人员工作的高工资，高科技性质的信息，这一点很重要，因为许多掌握科学，数学和技术的中学生没有选择汽车技术人员职业，部分原因是他们对工作内容的误解。该项目还将监测和记录未来汽车技术人员所需的技能和知识，这些技术人员将使用一套今天没有教授的新技能来维修和维护车辆。该项目的成果将是有用的其他机构与汽车技术人员教育计划，需要更新其课程，以满足行业不断变化的需求，或正在努力多样化的学生群体感兴趣的汽车技术职业。

Profound developments in research and resources are feeding technological advancements that will soon make self-driving vehicles commonplace. Today's leading-edge, semi-autonomous connected vehicles utilize technology that includes radars, cameras, lidar, multi-domain controllers, wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communications, and software applications, to name a few. The proposed postsecondary faculty professional development project, focused on automated and connected vehicle technology, will serve the NSF's mission of promoting the progress of science by creating industry-supported workshops and college-level educational resources to academically strengthen postsecondary automotive technician degree programs. Project activities such as summer institutes and professional development webinars for faculty will be designed to advance the field of vehicle technology education across the country by informing the educators of future technicians about the new generation of vehicles that are radically changing the automotive and transportation industries. In addition to professional development, the autonomous vehicles and other materials purchased through the grant will also be used to provide outreach activities in secondary schools, including creating a toolkit comprised of interactive demonstrations designed to orient secondary school students, teachers, and counselors to automotive technician educational pathways and careers. Auto technician education must keep pace with the complexity of vehicles that incorporate aspects of robotics, machine learning, computer vision, and mechanical engineering. The goal of the proposed project is to increase the autonomous vehicle technology experience and knowledge of automotive technology educators throughout the nation and address the growing need for qualified, knowledgeable technicians with capacity to maintain and repair autonomous vehicles. The project will provide a week-long professional development session, webinars, and other learning events for 40 community college faculty annually. The project will also conduct outreach activities in secondary schools to impart information about the high wage, high-tech nature of the work of automotive technicians, important since many secondary school students skilled in science, math, and technology are not choosing automotive technician careers due in part to their misconceptions about what the work entails. The project will also monitor and document the skills and knowledge needed by the future automotive technician who will repair and maintain vehicles using a new set of skills not taught today. The project outcomes will be useful to other institutions with automotive technician education programs that need to update their curriculum to meet the changing needs in the industry or are struggling to diversify their student population interested in automotive technology careers.