Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have created a dramatic shift in recent transportation technology. Never before have we seen such a quick "phase in" of new technology in the automotive sector. ADAS systems hold the potential to reduce traffic crashes and save thousands of lives each year. It is no wonder that these systems are quickly becoming the base options on most new vehicles. Today, nearly every new vehicle has some level of ADAS systems working to prevent crashes.
It doesn’t stop there, with the quick adoption of ADAS systems, ADAS is considered to be the pre-cursor to the production and implementation of autonomous vehicles and intelligent cars.
Some examples of ADAS systems include:
Rear collision warnings
Parking assist
Emergency braking
Adaptive cruise control
Blind spot monitoring
Lane keeping assist
With new technology comes the need to educate on the repair and diagnosis. The ADAS Technician project aims to produce workforce-ready ADAS technicians for the automotive industry by:
Creating new curriculum for ADAS systems and diagnosis to automotive technology associate degree programs
Developing an ADAS technician certificate
Training high school teachers in ADAS systems
Training current Industry technicians in ADAS diagnosis and calibrations
Reaching high school students by creating a pathway to automotive technology degree programs
The National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program has been funding innovation at two-year colleges for over twenty years. With a focus on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy, and strong partnerships between academic institutions and industry, ATE promotes improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels.
To learn more about ATE, please visit the NSF ATE program home page.
