Self-driving truck company TuSimple and Pima Community College have launched the first autonomous driving certificate program for truck drivers.
In a statement, they said that the “Autonomous Vehicle Driver and Operations Specialist” program will equip truck drivers with the knowledge and skills to expand their roles in this new and rapidly expanding industry. The certificate will prepare individuals for jobs such as training the autonomous system as test drivers, operating the vehicle in situations where autonomous driving is not suitable, and remotely monitoring the system from a command center.
According to Pima and TuSimple, the program will teach experienced truck drivers how to operate and work with autonomous trucks in as quickly as one semester. The program requires a Class A commercial driver's license (“CDL”) prior to enrollment as drivers will build on their trucking knowledge with each course.
TuSimple and Pima Community College have co-created a curriculum for the certificate program of five classes. The courses are: Introduction to Autonomous Vehicles, Industrial Safety, Computer Hardware Components, Electrical Systems I, and Transportation and Traffic Management. In conjunction with the program, TuSimple said that it will prioritize hiring graduates of the certificate program for jobs at its Tucson, Arizona, testing and development center.
“It's clear that the future of truck transportation will offer new employment opportunities for today's drivers but it will require a set of new skills,” stated Lee Lambert, chancellor of Pima Community College. “Working with TuSimple to develop this 'Autonomous Vehicle Driver and Operations Specialist' certificate program ensures our students will build competencies in multiple areas – from logistics and information technology to automated industrial technology. These areas are being transformed by autonomy and drivers will need training in order to interact with autonomous trucks.”
The program will be offered at Pima Community College in Tucson starting in September 2019 and registration will begin in August 2019. Pima Community College and TuSimple said that they will collaborate with other schools interested in offering the same program.
“In keeping with TuSimple's mission to create the safest autonomous driving fleet, an essential aspect of the training program is to ensure that drivers have access to appropriate training for this new technology and employment opportunities,” stated Dr. Xiaodi Hou, the founder, president, and chief technology officer of TuSimple. “We commend Pima Community College for offering this innovative and exciting program that can help address the acute driver shortage. The program offers driving professionals a smooth transition into an emerging field that requires different skill sets in addition to existing truck driving knowledge by providing training.”
This certificate program was created along the backdrop of the U.S. Department of Transportation's study examining how the development and deployment of automated vehicle-related technology is expected to impact the transportation workforce. The first phase of the study will focus on the long-haul trucking and transit bus sectors and will result in a report to Congress, expected in summer 2019.
Learn more: www.tusimple.com, www.pima.edu.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].