In 1769 the first self-propelled steam-powered vehicle was already running on Paris's streets, thanks to its creator Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. On the brink of the twentieth century the motor car business began to take off in France and the United States; a little later Henry Ford revolutionized the industry with his assembly-line idea. Since then the car as we know it today has undergone modifications in its materials, components, power, shapes, its design …

Today there is talk of a new change that is going to shake up the whole market, i.e., the connected and autonomous car. Many are the advances that have now been achieved to improve driving quality and avoid accidents, such as the braking system or environment sensing systems. The connected car takes this one step further and, drawing on several connectivity-enabling technologies, is now looking at a great variety of services to boost safety, driving efficiency, vehicle-occupant comfort and experience.

The autonomous car, moreover, harnesses state-of-the-art technology to gradually whittle down the driver's active part as it is phased progressively into the market with the ongoing adoption of different automation levels. As things stand today it looks set to hit the roads in the short term, revolutionizing the whole automobile sector.

The steps towards the connected, autonomous car are being taken at an ever brisker rate, and new job skills are now needed to work to this end. In response to this new demand, the next academic year will see the introduction of the Master Degree in Connected- and Self-driving-Car Engineering, in which GMV will be playing an active part by giving lectures throughout the master-degree course.

This syllabus, drawn up by Madrid Polytechnic University (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid: UPM) and the Automobile Research University Institute (Instituto Universitario de Investigación y Automóvil: INSIA), will deal with vehicle-engineering aspects, their management within the sector and the concomitant environmental impact, among other matters. It is vouched by the 25-year experience of teaching the Automobile Engineering Master Degree and the 20+ years' experience in intelligent transportation systems.

GMV will help to draw up the syllabus and collaborate in matters concerning telematics, cooperative ITSs and applications of the connected- and self-driving vehicle. Special stress will be laid on practical cases involving the implementation of technologies in which GMV is past master, such as high-precision, high-integrity, safety-critical positioning for self-driving vehicles, aspects related to connected- and self-driving-vehicle cybersecurity and specific technological solutions for applications in vehicles of this type.