Honda partnered with The Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) last week to provide a unique STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) experience for high school students this summer.  

Camp CAR was a week-long summer day camp intended to educate students, ages 14 to 18, on various aspects of automotive engineering, including simulation and manufacturing.

The students had a full week of activities, including spending time at 99P Labs, a digital proving ground for mobility and energy innovators that is backed by Honda and The Ohio State University, and a trip to the Transportation Research Center (TRC) in East Liberty, Ohio.

The 99P Labs session, dubbed “Design and Simulation of Automotive Systems,” included topics like:

• Software Engineering 101: Students played different roles on a software engineering team, including project nanager, UI/UX designer, front end engineer and backend engineer.
• Vizendo Augmented Reality Project: Students learned how and why the East Liberty Auto Plant introduced virtual training into the manufacturing environment for the successful launch of the all-new flagship 2022 Acura MDX.
• Introduction to Simulation in the Auto Industry

At TRC, students spent a half day touring the largest independent vehicle test facility and proving grounds in the U.S. The TRC has a highly secure location of approximately 4,500 acres of road courses, wooded trails, a 7.5-mile high-speed oval test track, a 50-acre vehicle dynamic area (or black lake), as well as a brand-new Smart Mobility Center and six-lane Smart Intersection.

Students also received an overview about SMART Mobility.

“Honda’s support of the OSU Camp CAR event offers our team a great opportunity to engage with high school students from across the U.S. as we share the innovative technologies and methods we use in automotive engineering and research,” said Scot McLemore, manager of Workforce Partnerships at American Honda. “Students learned about the design method, developing software apps and leveraging Augmented Reality to more effectively train for new model introductions.”

The summer camp, supported by Ohio State and the Honda-Ohio State Partnership, gives CAR a chance to educate the next generation of engineers about exciting careers in mobility and to support STEM education. Camp CAR was presented by Honda, OSU Center for Automotive Research, OSU SIMCenter, Transportation Research Center, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and the OSU Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.