It’s Transportation Week! EcoCAR empowers the next generation of engineers and business leaders to help address the toughest mobility challenges facing our nation by transforming transportation and addressing our nation’s needs.
Year Four of the EcoCAR competition challenged teams to test, prove and refine all their work from the previous three years, which mimics what happens in a real-world automotive product development cycle. Teams transformed their vehicles from design concept into reality, building an energy efficient, connected and semi-automated vehicle.
To recognize and celebrate the advancements in transportation, EcoCAR will kick off Transportation Week with the Consumer Appeal Event. This event allows industry judges to assume the role of a prospective customer and perform a rigorous evaluation of all aspects of each team’s fully integrated 2019 Chevrolet Blazer that pertain to consumer appeal. Just like a consumer at a dealership about to buy a new car, the judges will evaluate the cockpit, gauges, displays, human-machine interaction (HMI) or infotainment features, driving experience, interior, and exterior of the vehicle.
This event, which will be held at the Phoenix Raceway, will be highly interactive and open-ended in its format to provide the judge with ample freedom and opportunity to explore the vehicle and its features.
Teams will have a brief opportunity to orient the judges to their target market and vehicle, but this will be the only presentation portion of the event. Judges will then drive the team vehicles to dynamically evaluate the driving experience and the vehicle should speak for itself. The judge evaluation will include both form and function and will be asked to thoroughly exercise all features of the vehicle, except for the team designed adaptive cruise control feature.
Events like the Consumer Appeal Event help students learn how to properly meet the needs of customers, and in turn, better prepare these future leaders to understand transportation needs when they enter the automotive industry.
Be sure to follow along the rest of the week to see all the other ways we are able to celebrate Transportation Week!
