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The AutoDrive Challenge: Autonomous Vehicles Education and Training Issues

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Conference

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Tampa, Florida

Publication Date

June 15, 2019

Start Date

June 15, 2019

End Date

June 19, 2019

Conference Session

College Industry Partnerships Division Technical Session 1

Tagged Division

College Industry Partnerships

Page Count

23

DOI

10.18260/1-2--33371

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/33371

Download Count

1066

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Paper Authors

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Jennifer Melanie Bastiaan Kettering University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8208-994X

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Jennifer Bastiaan received her Ph.D. in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo. She is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at Kettering University, where she is focused on teaching and research in ground vehicle systems. She is a veteran of the U.S. automotive industry with two decades of experience, including modeling and physical testing programs. Her technical research interests include vehicle dynamics, tire mechanics, and sound and vibration. She is also interested in education research, especially regarding the design of engaging STEM outreach programs for pre-college students, and the incorporation of effective industry partnerships into undergraduate engineering education.

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Diane L. Peters Kettering University

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Dr. Peters is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University. She is the primary faculty advisor for the university's AutoDrive team.

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Juan R. Pimentel Kettering University

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Dr. Juan R. Pimentel is a Professor of Computer Engineering at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, USA. He is an expert in the area of Internet of Things, Industrial Internet, safety-critical systems and industrial computer networks, particularly issues related to real-time protocols, safety-critical protocols, dependable automotive embedded distributed systems, and distributed industrial and embedded systems. He is a recognized international expert in the area of industrial communications and real-time and dependable protocols. He has written 3 books on networking, multimedia systems, and safety-critical systems. He has worked with major manufacturing and process control projects involving products from companies such as Siemens, Rockwell, Schneider Electric, ABB, and GE-Fanuc. He has also prepared and delivered seminars in Europe, Middle East, North and South America in areas such as Distributed Control Systems, SCADA, Communication networks, wireless industrial networks and protocols, Process monitoring and control, process safety, sensors and instrumentation, and information management.
As a 1980 graduate of the University of Virginia, his accomplishments include the
co-development of the application layer for Profibus (with Siemens), and the development of
FlexCAN, a CAN-based safety-critical architecture.
He has performed research at well known institutions around the world such as the Franuhofer Institute at Karlsruhe-Germany, INRIA at Nancy-France, University of Padova in Italy, Universidad Polictecnica de Madrid in Spain, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota-Colombia, and UTEC, Lima, Peru. In 2007 he received the “Distinguished Researcher Award” from Kettering University for contributions in the area of industrial communication systems and automotive systems.
During the last few years he has been involved with wireless sensor networks (WSNs), telemetry systems using tv white spaces, software define radios (SDR), and platforms for deploying IoT technologies.

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Mehrdad Zadeh Kettering University

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Dr. Zadeh is an associate professor and an advisor of AutoDrive Challenge™ competition at Kettering University, MI. From Sept. 2015 to January 2017, he served as a visiting associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, Laboratory for Computational Sensing + Robotics (LCSR), MD, where he collaborates on the design and development of haptic-enabled surgical simulation. He received his M.A.Sc. (2004) and Ph.D (2009) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Concordia University and the University of Waterloo, Canada, respectively. He also has over 8 years of industry experience as an engineer and software development specialist. He is interested largely in the areas of autonomous systems, haptics, physical human robot interaction (pHRI), and Robotics.

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Abstract

Automotive companies are focusing significant research and development efforts on autonomous vehicles. As they do so, they recognize the need for a large, well-trained workforce that is equipped to conduct these research and development projects, particularly in light of the projected shortages of STEM professionals in the United States. Some of these companies have found various ways to engage with professional societies and with universities to encourage the development of this workforce, and to promote themselves to STEM students while they are still in school. One such effort is the SAE/GM AutoDrive Challenge, a new collegiate competition organized by SAE International in collaboration with General Motors Corporation. In this competition, eight teams are working to modify a Chevy Bolt to meet the requirements of a Level 4 autonomous vehicle (i.e., a vehicle that is totally capable of driving itself within a certain operational domain). Teams were selected for this competition through a proposal process, with one of the requested components of the proposal focusing on existing courses and the development of new courses at the participating university. In this paper, we will discuss the roles of students and faculty advisors at one of the participating schools, address issues related to education and training of students who want to work in the autonomous vehicle industry, and discuss the benefits of the competition to all of its stakeholders. This discussion will include the skills developed by students, the outcomes of the competition, and the value that is being created for the automotive industry. As part of this discussion, we will focus on the close ties that can be forged between the participating universities and the corporate sponsors of the Challenge, as well as the impact on course development at the university.

Bastiaan, J. M., & Peters, D. L., & Pimentel, J. R., & Zadeh, M. (2019, June), The AutoDrive Challenge: Autonomous Vehicles Education and Training Issues Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33371

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