C2M2 has wrapped up our free online “C2M2 Coders” course for the summer of 2020. In this six-week-long course, each participant had a hands-on learning experience with the Python programming language for developing an automated vehicle application. The lecture topics covered the basics of Python language for connected and automated vehicles. The class was two hours per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm. Female students from throughout South Carolina participated in this inaugural class. C2M2 awarded a certificate to each participant at the end of this six-week-long course.
Cyber-connectivity and automation are reshaping the world, and the field of transportation is no exception. The future automation of, and interconnectivity between, vehicles and cyberinfrastructure promise to improve safety, facilitate traffic flow, and lead to less fuel consumption and air pollution. Even physical mobility (i.e., the traditional conception of transportation as the movement of goods and people) will be substituted by digital mobility through electronic communication, which we can call cyber-mobility. COVID-19 outbreak demonstrates how transportation will be transformed from physical mobility to digital mobility in the future.
As technological innovations, connectivity, and automation, in transportation hold tremendous promises in future transportation systems, our future students must be prepared to lead the automated and connected transportation industry. Computer programming is the key to teach every student to prepare themselves for leading the future digital mobility systems. Especially it is required to pay attention to our underrepresented female students in the transportation sector. We are excited about this new program and look forward to seeing its impacts and offering it again in the fall.