A Case Study of Autonomous Trucks

Objectives

After completing these activities, students should:

• better understand the importance of the trucking industry and how autonomous vehicle technology can affect different people;
• develop their empathy skills by by considering different perspectives of a problem;
• consider how artificial intelligence automation might affect their own career development plans. 

Setting the Stage

Artificial Intelligence technologies are rapidly evolving.The world of transportation is no exception. As self-driving vehicles are improving and regulations allow their use, we begin to see more and more of them on the road.

This case study will focus specifically on the world of land cargo transportation, commonly known as ‘trucking’. This industry is an essential part of any supply chain and it relies heavily on human drivers. In this scenario students will consider questions such as:

• How will the industry change with the adoption of more autonomous trucks? 
• What will the impact be on the different people involved with the industry?
• How can humans adapt to minimize the downsides of this inevitable technological revolution?

Duration

This project as a whole represents a minimum of 2 hours class time, plus additional time for activity 4.

Materials & Preparation

• Computers or tablets with internet access (for students)
• How important is trucking for society? reproducible [Google slides] [pptx] [PDF]
  • Teachers can display directly, or download the slidedeck for offline use
• Autonomous Trucks: Issues & Stakeholders reproducible [Google slides] [pptx] - 1 per pair or students
• Job of the Future reproducible [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF] -1 per student

What To Do

Activity 1 : First Impressions (20 min.)

• As an introduction to this case study, students will examine images related to different types of trucks to activate prior knowledge about how products are transported. They will also have the opportunity to reflect on the importance of the trucking industry.
• Teachers can use the How important is trucking for society? reproducible [Google slides] [pptx] [PDF] to present this topic to the class. This can be done in-person or online with the whole classroom.

Activity 2: Understanding Autonomous Vehicle Technology (10 min.)

• In order to better understand how autonomous vehicles work, students could watch the video below. Alternatively, students could be asked to read the article AI and Personal Vehicles.

• Teachers can ask the classroom to summarize how autonomous cars work. An important point for students to recognize is that autonomous vehicles use different types of sensors to get data about their surrounding environment.

Activity 3: Autonomous trucks - Issues and Stakeholders (60 minutes)

• In this activity, students will think about the different issues related to the automation of the trucking industry and think about the different people affected by these issues.

• Teachers can start by familiarizing themselves with the Issues and Stakeholders learning strategy.

• Teachers can show students the exemplar of a completed activity sheet on the topic of Cleaning Up Nuclear Waste After Decommissioning to demonstrate what is expected from this activity: Issues & Stakeholders Student Sample.
• As a way to initiate reflection, teachers can ask students to watch and answer questions in the The Future of Work: A VICE News Special Report - A Case Study of Autonomous Trucks Edpuzzle video (if preferred, can simply watch the first 5 minutes of the same video The Future of Work: A VICE News Special Report) to learn about the different perspectives of a trucker and an entrepreneur.
• Students should also watch the Faces of trucking video to see the various jobs involved in the industry.
• To complete this activity, teachers can:
  • Scaffold student discussion to identify the key issues. Teachers could use guiding questions such as:
    • How would you feel about being in a self-driving vehicle? How would you feel if you knew that trucks on the highway had no drivers?
    • Once the technology is ready, will truck drivers no longer be needed?
    • If we already have vehicles that can drive themselves, why are they not all on the road already?
    • Can adding technology to a vehicle create new needs (e.g., maintenance, costs)?
    • What advantages are there to autonomous trucks?
    • In what situations do autonomous trucks make sense? In what situations would a human driver be better?
    • What happens if technology fails and there is an accident?
  • Students in upper grades could do their own research. This could include watching the entire documentary video above.
  • Teachers could define the key issues as a class, then let groups of students focus on one issue and share with the whole class afterwards (jigsaw strategy).
  • Asynchronous: students could collaborate online using the Autonomous Trucks: Issues & Stakeholders reproducible [Google slides] [pptx]. Note: teachers must first make a copy to share with students.
• The main issues that students should become aware of include:
  • Safety
  • Job disruption (loss, change, retraining, etc.). 
  • Infrastructure (new types of roads, maintenance, etc.)
  • New technologies (limitations, software upgrades, bugs, etc.)
  • Law (insurance, liability, etc.)
  • Unpredictable situations (weather, accidents, etc.)

****For the 4th activity, teachers can choose from two pathways. Activity 4a offers a STEM-oriented activity, whereas 4b focuses more on the social aspects of the topic.

Activity 4a: You’re the engineer! (10 min. plus independent or small group project work time)

In this design activity, student groups will be asked to look at the problem from a civil engineering perspective and elaborate a solution for a highway of the future.

The challenge 

How could you design a highway that will accomodate autonomous trucks and regular vehicles? 

Design Criteria 

• The highway must be safe for autonomous trucks and regular cars.
• The system needs to offer a solution to a minimum of three stakeholder-specific issues identified in Activity 3, including safety.

Prototype

• Designs can be drawn by hand or using digital tools. 
• A scale model using toy cars and trucks could be built.
• A model could be created and coded using a coding platform such as Scratch.
• A physical prototype can be built using a simple robot such as the ozobot and color-coding their highway.

Assessment

Activity 4b: Working together on Societal Issues (20 min. plus independent or small group project work time)

In this activity, students will be briefly introduced in the democratic process step of a senate committee. Then, in a role-playing activity, student groups will need to prepare a 5 min presentation using one of the stakeholders’ perspective.

• First, teachers should present the video below that briefly introduces the process of creating new laws in Canada

• Then, teachers will present the scenario of the government looking into a bill authorizing autonomous trucks on Canadian highways. As seen in the video, the government is hypothetically in the committee stage. At this stage, experts or representatives, called witnesses (not mentioned in the video), can be called in to voice their concerns or share information. This process ensures that the committee has all the necessary information to take an informed and fair decision.
• Assign each of the different stakeholders identified in Activity 3 to a small group of students. More than one group can do the same stakeholder if necessary.
• Using the research done during Activity 3, student groups will prepare a 5 minute presentation to make sure their issues are addressed and considered in the bill at hand.
• Optional or alternative : students could write up amendments they could suggest to a bill that simply authorizes trucks on the highway.

Assessment

Activity 5: Your career of the Future (20 minutes)

In this activity, students are asked to take what they’ve learned from previous activities and apply it to their own career plan. Students could choose to stay in the autonomous driving domain, but preferably address their own passions and interests through this exploration.

• In order to do so, students are asked to complete Job of the Future reproducible [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF] by first choosing a career or work area they are interested in and think what it could be like by the time they would be hired for it.