Award ceremony, including an autonomous vehicle on display, will be held at TxDOT HQ in Austin on June 27
WASHINGTON, DC — Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), a nonprofit coalition that educates the public on automated vehicle (AV) technologies, has announced five winners of the third annual PAVE Essay Contest and Scholarship Program. An award ceremony for the five students, which will include an autonomous vehicle display, will be held at the Texas Department of Transportation on Friday, June 27.
Members of the media are welcome to join the award ceremony for the high school students; please contact [email protected] for details.
The PAVE essay contest encourages high school students to write about the potential impacts of automated vehicles, offering scholarship funds to the writers of the top essays. This year marked the program’s debut in Texas, which has become a leader for autonomous vehicle testing and deployments.
“Given the extensive autonomous vehicle activity in Texas this year, with both passenger vehicles and autonomous trucks, we were excited to give Texas students an opportunity to think about what this new technology means for their community and their future,” said PAVE Executive Director Tara Andringa. “We’re grateful to the Texas Department of Transportation and our corporate sponsors for supporting this STEM education program.”
More than 380 Texas students entered the contest, representing communities with diverse geography, transportation needs, and economies. A committee of experts from different areas of the AV industry scored the essays, evaluating the thesis development, creativity, organization, format, and grammar.
The highest-scoring students will receive college scholarship funds thanks to generous sponsors Aurora, STEER, the Texas Department of Transportation, and VW ADMT. The contest winners are listed below:
- First Place: Aaron Beltran, a Senior from Granite Shoals, TX
- Second Place: Vikas Iyer, a Senior from Katy, TX
- Third Place: Tristan Ramon, a Senior from Plano, TX
- Honorable Mention: Kushal Sidda, a Junior from Austin, TX
- Honorable Mention: Bryson Suggs a Senior from Leander, TX
At the award ceremony on June 27, leaders from TxDOT, PAVE, and the sponsoring companies will congratulate the winning students and present their scholarship checks. Students will also have the opportunity to explore an autonomous vehicle display from VW ADMT.
To learn more about the PAVE Essay Contest & Scholarship Program, click here.
