Autonomous Vehicles in Oakland

This ETP lays the groundwork for an eight-week project-based learning curriculum unit to explore the complexities of solving an engineering problem that combines technical challenges and ethical considerations. The ETP will lay out an eight-week overarching structure, with a particular focus on week three’s detailed curriculum. Students will engage in the design thinking process to build a self-driving car prototype that can navigate a maze and host a debate to discuss the real-world impact of a very relevant problem to our local community: transportation. Students will form teams with roles modeling those of corporate engineering teams with product designers, hardware engineers, and software engineers. These teams will conduct multiple rounds of empathy interviews with a target user group, build 3D models using CAD software, program microcontrollers, and wire and solder circuits to accomplish the task at hand. Students will explore the implications of replacing existing infrastructure with higher-cost, higher-emission alternatives of self-driving cars like public transit. In the week three unit, students will develop their first project checkpoint, using C++ programming and arduinos to drive a motor.