What is ACES and the impact of the future of mobility on young learners?

ACES, Autonomous vehicles, and Young Learners

Introduction:

The ideal school includes a football field, a basketball court, a big square and a building with at least 3 wings. In reality however, not all schools in all parts of the world meet this criteria, resulting in highly unequal educational experiences for children. Research has established that study spaces have a great impact on the ability, quality and duration of work done. Wendy Hargreaves has published in the University of Southern Queensland Press that the space, time, position, proximity to study materials and/or distractions not only influences the efficiency of work but also whether or not “you complete work at all” (Hargreaves, 2021).

While her argument rightly highlights that there is an important space-study relationship, it restricts study to a sit-down activity. Such an approach overlooks the ‘wholeness’ of the individual, which is a factor that is of importance while considering learning especially in the case of children and young learners.

Learning space & autonomous vehicles

Cutting-edge research on pedagogy has called for an expansion on the category of learning itself to include various different aspects that make a child whole. The notion of Personalized Education has been drawn on by McGraw Hill, an American Education Company, to highlight the importance of whole child education (McGraw Hill, 2022).

For example, they have shown that a child’s mathematical skills are closely tied to their levels of anxiety and their perception of the subject, and of learning as a process itself. Thus, they have suggested that while Personalized Education is an important breakthrough in the field of learning, it needs to be focused on the whole-child rather than just the academic side of the child. Through this school of thought emerges the need to focus on the relationship between space and learning, and moving beyond a narrow view of a learning space as merely academic.

Within this ambit falls the concept of DEEP learning spaces (Innova Design Group, 2017) — an acronym that stands for Dynamic, Engaging, Ecological and Participatory spaces of education and learning. This type of space is flexible to fit the particular need of the students, facilitates different kinds of interactions, pays attention to the subtle aspects of the design, inculcates an interaction with the surrounding ecology of the space, and allows for increased agency of the student in their own education.

While this method focuses heavily on incorporating all of these factors within a single space, Jabez LeBret, publishing on the Getting Smart blog, looks at an interesting alternative — mobility as a way of pedagogy (LeBret, 2020). The idea that schools must be buildings, rather than a set of practices dispersed across different places has been challenged in this piece of writing. While this idea in itself is not altogether completely novel as we have all at some point heard that ‘Real learning happens outside the classroom’, LeBret’s argument goes a step further by integrating it with technological advancement i.e., self-driving cars.

Self-Driving Cars are but one of the different innovations that form part of the ACES framework for vehicles.

What is ACES in autonomous vehicles?

The ACES acronym stands for Autonomous, Connected, Electric, and Shared that represents the rapidly expanding niche of self-driving car technology.

These are four biggest disruptors affecting mobility and transportation at the same time, resulting in the most potent megatrend combination, and arguably the most important wave in society’s evolution.

Autonomous

Autonomous describes self-driving vehicles, especially driverless cars. A true autonomy is attained when there is no need for human driving intervention for the smooth operation of the vehicle. This autonomy will greatly enhance mobility as it offers a wide range of safety benefits and increased comfort for transportation.

Connected

Connected refers to the electronic interconnection of vehicles where it will allow signal transfer between vehicles (V2V), between infrastructure (V2I), between pedestrians(V2P). These connectedness will ensure better people’s safety, reduction in traffic congestion, and better management of the complex environment.

Electrification

Electrification of autonomous vehicles is crucial in making the most of autonomous technology by retaining our goal of future sustainability. This makes the future of autonomy to be driven by complete electrification such that tackling challenges pertaining to the sustainable infrastructure.

Shared services

Shared services suggest that GenZ and future generations will increasingly use the shared ride rather than owning their own vehicles. In addition to increasing mobility for all sections of society, the shift towards on-demand transportation through shared-service platforms may help tackle challenges related to sustainable infrastructure, health, well-being, employment, inequality, and social inclusion.

Future of Mobility

These automobiles are technologically advanced and ensure multiple other benefits to the passenger as well as the society at large. It allows for reduced pollution, congestion and accidents, and increased accessibility for people who cannot drive due to disabilities. The electrification, technologization and connectivity of vehicles ensures that there are data-based interactions between vehicles on the street, and between the infrastructure, the environment and the vehicles. Robert Day and Neil Stroud point out in an interesting discussion on the Arm Insights Podcast that in the longer term, the prevalence of ACES automobiles is likely to put fewer vehicles on the street as a result of an increase in shared use, while also reducing transportation costs and making it more accessible to the masses (Arm,2020).

Source: Mckinsey & company

This particular point regarding the increased accessibility and reduced cost of transportation, in combination with improved safety, is of immense benefit to young learners. This model of transportation can aid better, whole-child focused personalized education. The benefits of ACES automobiles for young learners is immediately tied to the idea of mobile learning.

The single biggest obstacle to the implementation of mobile, personalized, whole-child focused learning more widely to replace single-building education has always been the constraint of transport in the form of costs, safety, access, parking space etc. Since these problems are tackled by ACES automobiles, mobile learning can thus be a plausible reality for students in many parts of the world. Particularly, in countries and regions in the world where there is a lack of funding for schools and illiteracy looms large, a mobile model of learning through the use of ACES automobiles presents as a potential solution.

The ACES framework automobiles do pose some challenges however. They demand a human being to be trustworthy of the autonomy of a machine with a task with high stakes such as driving. Currently there are also multiple technological and technical challenges to the flawless productivity of ACES automobiles. When control is relinquished to a machine and internet driven technology, there also arises the problem of cybersecurity and data privacy.

There are also financial questions of fall in tax revenues for many states in the world resulting from a shift away from petroleum and oil. Day and Stroud, in their podcast, also discuss the potential problems with production of batteries, while also pointing out that there is constant evolution and optimization of processes within the industry of automobiles, specifically concerning the ACES framework. Thus, while there may exist from drawbacks currently inhibiting utilization of ACES automobiles, the evolving nature of this technology and industry allows for optimism.

It is important for this reason, specifically for those who stand to benefit greatly from a shift towards ACES automobiles, to keep up to date with the changes and developments in this framework. The best way to do so is through the CV Pro. The CV Pro has smart computer vision, uses sensor technology, possesses state-of-the-art communication channels and powerful computational abilities. This AI kit is mainly beneficial in keeping up to date with developments in AI and educating oneself about neural networks, machine learning, deep learning and computer vision. More specifically, the CV Pro is also highly useful to learn more about the different developments happening within the ACES framework. It helps in developing a comprehensive understanding of techniques and technologies such as Platooning and Self-Driving Cars. This makes the CV Pro ideal for a wide range of uses for different kinds of people who need to stay updated about these changes for work or study purposes such as industry professionals, teachers, automobile engineers, or students. The AI kit is also easy to learn from and is good for use by someone who is simply interested in learning more about AI as well, be it a beginner or an enthusiast.

CONCLUSION

Most importantly, since the field of ACES automobiles is constantly evolving and requires further developments to ensure smooth working, technologies and initiatives like the CV Pro AI kit are essential in inspiring further interest and research in these areas. Students and young learners who engage in keeping up to date with the technological interventions and even failures of the ACES framework are more likely to provide solutions based on their own research and study. The CV Pro thus plays the crucial role of bridging the gap between the industry and cutting-edge research in the field. This further reinforces the idea that learning can and must happen in multiple places, not restricted to a single building. The CV Pro is aligned with the values of whole-child focused personalized education that is based on the principles of mobile learning, while also further contributing to the smoother transition to this type of education model and to more ACES automobiles on our streets.