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Taking to the Mezzanine stage during the closing keynote session at AutoSens this September, a group of high school students from the NWAPW programme (Northwest Advanced Programming Workshop) in Portland, Oregon presented their work on creating a scale autonomous car.

They described the platform, a modified low-cost RC car combined with custom software and how it will allow companies to connect and partner with high schools and colleges enabling them to quickly create their own autonomous vehicle program.

“It’s truly amazing to me to see the level these students are at, and what they have achieve purely under their own steam,” commented Robert Stead, Chairman of the AutoSens conference. “NWAPW has been set up to be entirely student-led, so they have had to work out how to structure the team, how to manage the work, and all other aspects of the project as well as the technical aspects involved in getting their model vehicle up and running.”

In addition to the presentation the students demonstrated the robot cars in action along the Blue Boulevard in the AutoSens exhibition area.

“The team proved that even high school students are capable of writing the code necessary to control a small autonomous vehicle ” comments Director of the programme, Steven Edelman. He continues, “But more importantly, they developed a package of hardware, software and support that will allow any school to host their own program where their students can do the same thing.”

Attendees had the opportunity to interact with the students one-on-one. The kids were in the lead, answering questions, explaining the program and describing how their program will help companies get students involved with engineering and autonomous vehicles in particular.

“We continue to face a severe shortage of trained engineers.  This program was created by high school students who understand that today’s kids have ready access to computers so a hands-on program where they build something real and compelling is the best way to attract young talent to the field.”