Landon Haugh, a former Mississippi State University team lead earned and completed an internship with EcoCAR Visionary sponsor, NXP Semiconductors, during the summer of 2020. His internship was later extended to include his final semester at Mississippi State University. During his internship, he worked on a mobile robotics team that creates references design using NXP Semiconductors hardware. Haugh was brought on as a full-time employee and now serves as a technical lead at NXP for Marcom University Programs. From team building, to multi-disciplinary collaboration, Haugh says that NXP embodies the spirit of the EcoCAR competition in multiple ways.
When asked about his experiences with NXP Semiconductors Haugh said, “Over the summer, we would do things like have people from the company talk about resume building, team building, and core values of NXP. They also had game nights and Netflix Parties.”
The team-building exercises truly embody the nurturing aspect of the competition. The company pours into each of its employees and interns similarly to how the teams pour into their members.
The team-building aspects were not the only highlight for Haugh. Haugh mentioned that a lot of the team members he worked with during his internship were located near the global headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands, or in Austin, Texas. He accredits the experience for providing him with experiences of working with like minds across the world. The company employs over 45,000 people across 35 different countries providing ample opportunities to meet and learn from others.
According to Haugh, the structure of the company is also like the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge. There is a broad wide-ranging team of employees and smaller specialized teams within the overarching group.
NXP Semiconductors’ sponsorship has been especially helpful for the MSU Connected and Automated Vehicle Systems sub-team. This year, the CAVs sub-team worked on a variety of projects including the sensor input layer, sensor fusion, Vehicle-to-Everything communication (V2X), and the implementation of the sensor fusion system in MATLAB® and Simulink®. Each of the projects is connected and work together to create a full picture of the surrounding environment to allow the planning algorithms like Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC).
NXP aims to develop its team similar to the ways EcoCAR Mobility Challenge teams’ mentor their team members. Additionally, NXP Semiconductors provides students in Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions with a wide variety of opportunities with their sponsorship. Their contributions including technology help the teams to move forward within the competition.
