Arizona College now offers a class called, โAutonomous Vehicle Driver & Operations Specialistโย for those who hold a Class A CDL.
The 12 credit course was created as a response to the future needs of the trucking industry. School officials see this new course as the first-ever college-certified program specializing in driving autonomous vehicles.
โWe want to keep commercial truck drivers relevant as emerging technology happens,โ said Missy Blair, program manager/certified MSF rider-coach and traffic survival school instructor at the Center for Transportation Training.
โThereโs some fear that jobs will be lost with autonomous vehicles coming into play. We want to make sure that we respond to that. No matter what side of the argument youโre on, we think itโs our role in higher education to be able to facilitate upscaling commercial drivers and also helping employers find a workforce.โ
Along with holding a Class A CDL, Arizona College asks that potential students have three years of industry experience.
The course which consists of 5 classes, could be completed in one year but school officials donโt recommend this plan.
Students who do earn the certification from Arizona College will receive priority hiring from TuSimple, an autonomous vehicle company.
Robert Brown, head of government relations and public affairs at TuSimple said, โWe have about 20 drivers (at TuSimple), some of whom are 20- and 30-year veteran drivers that are interested in the autonomous space. Weโre not asking them to code, but we do want our drivers to have a basic understanding of the technology, nomenclature, and how the system works before we send someone into a highly-automated vehicle.โ
He added, โIf someone is willing to spend their own money to get the certification program you know that this person is interested in the future. Theyโre going to come with a baseline of knowledge that we donโt have to teach.โ
Blair expressed her understanding of the skepticism around the course but says she wants to be on the forefront [of automation]. We canโt ignore it, because if we do, we become irrelevantโ she concluded by saying, โWeโre basically offering a certificate program for a job that doesnโt yet exist.โ