Carnegie Mellon’s Safety21 is helping Pennsylvania grow and retain a skilled workforce that will adapt to forthcoming advanced and autonomous vehicle technologies. As a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) National University Transportation Centers (UTCs). Safety21 is positioned by design to help build our nation’s transportation workforce. USDOT invests in universities and colleges to advance transportation education, research, and technology transfer, and workforce development is a federally mandated part of their mission. Workforce development is a long-established pillar of the work in Safety21, as it was in Carnegie Mellon’s previous national UTC, Mobility21.
The center is supporting workforce development at the high school, community college, and career development stages of learning. This includes targeting high school students with career-oriented programs; teaming with regional industry, public entities, and labor unions to inform a statewide curriculum for community colleges to train apprentices and mechanics; and providing instruction to first responders and other trainees on how to manage traffic incidents involving automated vehicles along with disruptions in smart infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
