Business & Economy
Need a job? How about engineering a driverless car?
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By CHAO YAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — As Michigan accelerates toward leadership in the emerging driverless car technology, industry experts say its workforce needs to catch up. Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation in December allowing the public to buy and use fully self-driving cars when they are available — a package of four bills that is “leading the way in transforming the auto industry,” Snyder said in a statement. Michigan, led by Detroit, has a 100-year history as the heart of the U.S. auto industry, but to be the first is not always easy. “As the industry evolves and more information is available, we have a disconnection in workforce,” said Elaina Farnsworth, the chief executive officer of Mobile Comply and a member of the state’s Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Task Force. Farnsworth said the group discovered a problem when it started analyzing skill gaps, even though Michigan has a high concentration of engineers.