Project ISF: Understanding the energy use and carbon emissions of training autonomous vehicles (ISF) Program DUIRI - Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship Term Fall 2024 Status Accepted Research Area Industrial Engineering; Environmental and Ecological Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering Description Autonomous vehicle technology has been pursued seriously for the last few decades. It continues to improve through enhanced computational advances and training methods. Training autonomous vehicle technology requires several stages, including—but not limited to—simulating driven miles, closed road testing, and open road testing. These training methods each generate greenhouse gas emissions through their energy consumption. This project will evaluate the energy and environmental impact of training autonomous vehicles in the United States over the last several decades. This will help establish a ‘carbon debt’ value that AV technology has accumulated in pursuit of its adoption Supervisor Hua Cai Mentor Kendrick Clay Hardaway Type of work required This project will draw on techniques from three different disciplines. It will require reading information regarding electrical and computational infrastructures, building models in python and Excel to quantify energy use of different software, and performing environmental greenhouse gas accounting. The work will involve some literature review, the quantification and analysis, and writing the results for an academic audience. Websites Qualifications Desirable candidates will have GPA>3.0 and experience with Microsoft Suite, python, and be highly motivated. Credit Hours 0 Weekly Hours 15 (estimated)