The Department of Automotive Technologies hosted young schoolchildren in the framework of the Children’s University programmes

The Csonka János Hall, the laboratory of the Department of Automotive Technologies, was buzzing with horns and children’s noise for a few days, hosting nearly 150 primary school children.  Dr Zsolt Szalay, Associate Professor, gave a presentation on self-driving cars to the program participants.

In the framework of the Children’s University programme organised by BME between 10-14 July, our department also hosted children interested in engineering, who may become the engineers of the future. Dávid Tollner, a PhD student from our department, gave a seminar for the children and also acted as the youngsters’ host. In total, 5 groups of 20-30 children arrived and were shown the interior of the cars and the lower structure of a lifted car, an electronically controlled vehicle, which gave a glimpse into the future of self-driving cars, and the opportunity to experience an electric car as a passenger. Acceleration power measurement was also demonstrated on the performance bench of the Competence Centre for Innovative Vehicle Technologies, and other transport equipment owned by the department was also available for experimentation.

In his presentation at the Children’s University programme, Dr Zsolt Szalay talked about the conditions under which smart cars can operate, the functions they will be able to perform, and why it is important to test and inspect these vehicles very carefully before releasing them on the road. He began his presentation by saying: „It is a huge responsibility to talk about the technology of the future in a way that is understandable and motivating for the generation of the future. It is my undisguised aim to infect some of you with this subject, so that we will see you as vehicle engineers or any other engineers in the halls of our University.”