In collaboration with the Michigan Alliance for Greater Mobility Advancement (MAGMA), the American Center for Mobility (ACM) launches an additional study to better understand workforce needs in the mobility space, including curriculum development and training.

The American Center for Mobility recently launched a workforce development study focused on current and future middle-skill jobs and skillsets pertaining to connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) needed over the next decade. Analysis gleaned from the research will be used as the basis for curriculum development in collaboration with ACM’s Academic Consortium and industry partners.

Research will be conducted by evaluating middle management industry interviews and collection of quantitative data as a means to reveal new occupations, skills gaps, and abilities required for a new mobility workforce. Report findings are scheduled for release February 2020.

ACM enters this particular workforce development study as part of a larger mission to strengthen Michigan’s talent pipeline, ultimately benefiting the robust mobility ecosystem within the state. Researchers will focus on a core segment of occupations that may benefit from post-secondary training or apprenticeship, but not exclusively a bachelor’s degree for job attainment, including: CAV repair and maintenance technicians, software developers, intelligent transportation systems technicians, infrastructure technicians, and drivers testing for automated vehicles.  

“The effects of CAVs have far reaching societal and workforce implications, some of which we are already starting to see at the technician level,” said Mark Chaput, chief operating officer of ACM. “Our team continues to hear there is a need for a large portion of the nation’s workforce to be retrained to address those implications, and this study lays the foundation for that retraining and education process to begin.”

In the near future, the researchers seek to arm instructive institutions with the top five to 10 workforce development needs, education requirements for new occupations, and professional competencies required for new mobility centric employees.

“Talent is a key priority at BorgWarner and one where outside training will be critical—whether in developing our employees or attracting and training new employees. When I travel to countries around the globe, I see a common need for training programs that are suitable for the changing automotive industry— this is a universal need.” Erika Nielsen, MAGMA Co-Chair, Director of Global Government Affiars, BorgWarner.

Collaborators in the dissemination of the survey portion of the research include ACM, the ACM Academic Consortium, Automation Alley, MichAuto, the Michigan Defense Center, the Michigan Talent Investment Agency, Apprenti, Advance Michigan, and the William Davidson Foundation. Funding for the study is provided by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation.

Last year, ACM released the findings of its first workforce study, titled “Preparing the Workforce for Automated Vehicles,” which sought to understand the impacts CAVs would have on commercial drivers for the future —especially in the areas of freight and package delivery, taxi, and ride-hailing. The full report can be found here: https://bit.ly/2YE2vvs.

About ACM
The American Center for Mobility is a non-profit testing, education and product development facility for future mobility, designed to enable safe validation and self-certification of connected and automated vehicle technology and future mobility, and to accelerate the development of voluntary standards. ACM is part of PlanetM, a collaborative that represents Michigan’s unique and vast ecosystem, connecting resources and opportunities for its consortium of partners. To learn more about ACM, visit americanmobstg.wpengine.com.