Krein highlights key skills engineers need for electric vehicle manufacturing
7/15/2019 Ryann Monahan, ECE ILLINOIS
ECE ILLINOIS Professor Philip Krein explains how AI and robotics skills are key for future hires at electric vehicle manufacturing companies and how car manufacturers are having difficulty capturing new hires with those skills due to competition with technology companies.
Written by Ryann Monahan, ECE ILLINOIS
The frontier of electric and self-driving vehicles demands a workforce of engineers trained in AI and robotics. The industry is growing fast, with nearly all major car manufacturers making major investments in electric vehicles. However, the talent pool of new hires armed with the skills car manufacturers and their suppliers need to lead the way is falling short, largely due to competition with technology companies.
ECE ILLINOIS Professor Philip T Krein explained to IEEE Spectrum that one important skill students should be taught is systems-level thinking, so they can understand how artificial intelligence, robotics, software, and other technologies interact with one another. It is a way of thinking, he said, is rare in the auto industry.
Philip T Krein“Despite its size and complexity, the auto industry really hasn’t been linked to systems engineering,” Krein said in an interview with IEEE Spectrum.
ECE ILLINOIS students are offered courses in EVs and hybrids, as well as drive trains. They are also encouraged to take classes cybersecurity and embedded software to encourage interdisciplinary thinking.
Read more on Krein’s interview with IEEE Spectrum here