Autonomy in Transportation Education

Abstract

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) represent a transformative technology that can revolutionize how people and goods move. The private sector is at the forefront of developing the technology, and many municipalities are attempting to prepare for a more connected and automated future. As such, both private and public sectors are in need of a skilled workforce with knowledge of CAVs. At the same time, as the CAV technology is not mature yet, academics are directing most of their attention to research on CAVs and their impact on the transportation system, overlooking needs for workforce development. The objective of this project is to assess the needs for workforce development in CAVs, to identify potential obstacles that educators face in fulfilling those needs, and to propose ways to overcome the obstacles. Toward this end, a workshop was designed to bring together experts to identify the best ways to meet the demand for a workforce skilled in CAVs. As the field of CAVs can be diverse, a survey was distributed ahead of the workshop to identify the main themes around which the workshop was designed: (1) next generation infrastructure for CAVs, (2) human factors with CAVs, (3) modeling, simulation, and testing of CAVs, and (4) travel behavior in the context of CAVs. The identified themes do not comprehensively cover the educational needs in CAVs, but are rather poised to cover what were identified as the most prominent educational gaps in CAVs by the survey takers.