Establishing a Project-Centric Curriculum for Mobility Education in Universities and Operational Strategies for First-Year Students

This study aimed to design a project-centric curriculum that enables first-year university students to actively engage in autonomous vehicle education and systematically acquire practical competencies.The curriculum was structured around project-based courses on autonomous vehicle development offered each semester, supported by foundational subjects such as mathematics, physics, and software programming.These supporting courses were strategically aligned to reinforce the learning objectives of the project courses.The instructional design was grounded in project-based learning (PBL) principles, emphasizing real-world problem-solving, hands-on experimentation, and collaborative teamwork.Students engaged in the design and implementation of autonomous driving systems, developing both technical skills and creative problem-solving abilities through the integration of theoretical and practical knowledge.As a result of this curriculum, students successfully completed autonomous vehicle fabrication projects and achieved notable outcomes such as software copyright registrations, competition awards, and industry-academia certification through autonomous driving software competency evaluation.These accomplishments demonstrate that even first-year students can attain meaningful achievements in the field when supported by a structured, practice-oriented educational framework.This curriculum will be extended to the second year for more advanced projectbased learning, with ongoing collaboration with industry partners to strengthen practical content and foster skilled professionals in the field of autonomous mobility.