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The VW AutoUni is a new private university located in Wolfsburg, Germany, on the Mobile Life Campus established by Volswagen. This new university is intended to grant US-style graduate degrees (Masters and Ph.D.s) in trans-disciplinary topics, with the Schools of Engineering and Science, Business, and Humanities. Enrollment is initially restricted to VW/Audi employees, but will eventually be open to the public.

One of the goals of the AutoUni is to partner with major universities around the world. For this reason, they have established an important partnership with the Stanford Center for Design Research (CDR) that involves a cooperative research project with Prof. Chris Gerdes, an ME310 project, the establishment of a AutoUni Researcher in Residence at the CDR, and visits by CDR professors and students to VW and Audi facilities, including lectures at the AutoUni? in Wolfsburg.

Events:

  • 27 Mar - Prof. Leifer and Dr. Cockayne, assisted by Drs. Petrie and Schaaf,

hold a workshop at the AutoUni 

       another one in July.

  • 9-10 Feb - CDR hosts a visit by Prof. Zimmerli and Dr. Schaaf:AutoUni/CDR 3rd workshop

  • Jan-Mar - Josh arrives and works with Gerrit Schmidt at VW Wolfsburg. Chris arrives in Berlin and makes himself available to the VW AutoUni for lectures.

  • 10-11 Nov - Two lectures by Dr. Petrie given at the AutoUni.
    Computer Support for Collective Work (Announcement)
    Distributed Design and Project Management (Announcement)

  • 14 Oct 2nd AutoUni-CDR Workshop with Dr. Schaaf.

  • 7 Oct - Visit by Dr. Schaaf (VW AutoUni), Dr. Uwe Koser (Audi), Dr. Andreas Meyer (TUM), and Prof. Bernd Heissing (TUM) to launch the AutoUni ME310? project.

  • 4 Oct - Teleconference between Dr. Miklos Kiss and Mr. Gerrit Schmidt (VW Research, Wolfsburg), and Dr. Gerdes and Mr. Switkes (Stanford) to discuss simulator project, with the following decisions made:
    • Josh will be in Wolfsburg roughly Jan 15 to Mar 25 2006, with exact dates to be determined.
    • Josh will work with Gerrit Schmidt, PhD student at Volkswagen research.
    • Gerrit Schmidt will spend summer of 2006 at Stanford
    • Josh and Gerrit are in contact to develop project details, as well as to arrange accomodations for Josh in Wolfsburg

  • Sep - A permanent room for the simulator has been located (MERL building, room 135). Installation of projectors and screens is ongoing. The car has been cut in half (image of Josh CuttingCar), and the front half moved into the simulator room (picture of MovingTheCar). First test in new room with temporary screens and projector mounts conducted FirstSimTestNewRoom.

  • Sep - The simulator is installed a temporary location in Stanford and the first version of lane-keeping assistance is tested.

  • Aug - It is decided that the AutoUni ME 310 project will be run by Audi.

  • 1 Jul - Prof. Gerdes visits Audi in Ingolstadt and meets with Drs. Kiss and Schaaf to work on the research collaboration.

  • 13-15 Jun - Dr. Charles Petrie visits the AutoUni. Dr. Koser meets with Drs. Schaaf and Petrie on the subject of AutoUni ME 310 participation. Roland Voss and Frank von Lacroix also participated in this discussion. Dr. Petrie is also introduced to the new Dean of Science, Prof. Wallentoqitz. As a Consulting Associate Professor, Dr. Petrie represented Stanford University in a meeting that was part of the process for accrediting the AutoUni's first Masters degrees.

  • 3 Jun - Dr. Uwe Koser, Audi Wissenschaftsprojekte, and Dr. Andreas Meyer, Akademic Direktor, Technishe Universtitaet Muenchen, visit the Stanford EXPE and meet with the CDR about AutoUni-based collaborations, focusing on ME 310 projects.

  • 25 May - As a result of Mr. Skogstad's visit, Prof. Chris Gerdes makes contact with Dr. Miklos Kiss to begin a research collaboration on simulation-based assitance to drivers: DAS HMI. The research plan first submitted to the AutoUni in March is re-submitted.

  • 17-20 May - Philipp Skogstad visited the AutoUni in Wolfsburg and Audi in Ingolstad to brief them on ME310 course requirements.

  • 3-6 May - Prof. Leifer visited Audi in Ingostadt to give a lecture,
    then joined Prof. Zimmerli and VW Board Chair Peter Hartz to give an inaugural speech, and finally Prof. Leifer gave a talk at the celebration of Prof. Zimmerli's 60th birthday. Professor Larry Leifer's Slides

  • 22 Mar 05 - This partnership was started in March 2005 and kicked off with a
    first AutoUni/CDR workshop with Dr. Klaus Schaaf. One of the early results was a Research Plan for the DAS HMI simulator-based project headed by Prof. Chris Gerdes at Stanford.

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