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，这将很快使自动驾驶汽车变得普遍。当今领先的半自动互联汽车采用的技术包括雷达、摄像头、激光雷达、多域控制器、无线车对车通信和软件应用等。拟议的高等教育教师专业发展项目，重点是自动化和互联汽车技术，将通过创建行业支持的研讨会和大学水平的教育资源，在学术上加强高等教育汽车技术学位课程，为NSF促进科学进步的使命服务。针对教师的暑期研修和专业发展网络研讨会等项目活动将通过向未来技术人员的教育工作者介绍彻底改变汽车和运输行业的新一代汽车，来推进全国范围内的汽车技术教育领域。除了专业发展之外，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外展活动，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。汽车技术人员的教育必须跟上汽车的复杂性，包括机器人、机器学习、计算机视觉和机械工程等方面。拟议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修理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。该项目每年将为40名社区大学教师提供为期一周的专业发展会议、网络研讨会和其他学习活动。该项目还将在中学开展外展活动，宣传汽车技师工作的高工资和高科技性质，这一点很重要，因为许多精通科学、数学和技术的中学生没有选择汽车技师职业，部分原因是他们对这项工作的要求存在误解。该项目还将监测和记录未来汽车技师所需的技能和知识，这些技师将使用今天尚未教授的一套新技能来维修和保养车辆。对于其他需要更新课程以满足行业不断变化的需求或努力使对汽车技术职业感兴趣的学生群体多样化的汽车技术教育机构来说，该项目的成果将是有用的。

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.