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You Could Be Building Self-Driving Cars By This Time Next Year

Udacity announces more details of its self-driving car engineer Nanodegree — signups open today, and job offers await those who graduate from the 36 week course.

“Self-Driving Car Engineer.” It sounds like a job title from the future, right? With Udacity’s help, you can have that job by this time next year.

Udacity has created a program to not only train you for this job, but also get you hired by some of the biggest car manufactures and ridesharing companies.

Udacity first announced a self-driving car engineer Nanodegree in July this year. Since its announcement, more than 30,000 people around the world have expressed interest in the Nanodegree.

Today Udacity has released more information about the self-driving car engineer Nanodegree program, and it has opened up applications to anyone with an internet connection.

Udacity’s self-driving car engineer Nanodegree program.

Similar to its other Nanodegrees, Udacity has worked with the industry involved to create the curriculum. Its partners include Mercedes Benz, Nvidia, and Otto. Otto was recently bought by Uber for a deal that could be worth one percent of Uber’s most recent valuation. That would imply a price of about $680 million.

But unlike other Nanodegrees, Udacity has already lined up hiring partners who fast track Nanodegree graduates to offer them jobs around the world. These partners include Didi Chuxing and the curriculum partners we mentioned above. So, effectively, two of the biggest ridesharing companies in the world will be hiring Udacity’s newly-minted self-driving car engineers.

Another interesting aspect of the Nanodegree is that at the end of the program, students will work together to build and run code on an actual autonomous vehicle owned by Udacity.

Udacity Self Driving Car
Udacity’s Self-Driving Car at Techcrunch Disrupt

The structure of the Nanodegree is also different to all other Nanodegrees, and it follows a more traditional academic course format.

First of all, there is an application process. Applications open today at udacity.com/drive and will close on September 27th 2016.

Secondly, the program follows a semester pattern: it is divided into three terms, each taking twelve weeks to complete. The first term begins mid-October.

And, finally, the program’s cost is fixed. It will cost $800/term, or $2,400 in total. Scholarships will be available to students who qualify for them. Unlike other Nanodegree programs, there is no half your money back when you finish the program.

The self-driving car engineer Nanodegree program will cover topics including deep learning, computer vision, sensor fusion, localization, and controllers. You can apply here udacity.com/drive

Dhawal Shah Profile Image

Dhawal Shah

Dhawal is the CEO of Class Central, the most popular search engine and review site for online courses and MOOCs. He has completed over a dozen MOOCs and has written over 200 articles about the MOOC space, including contributions to TechCrunch, EdSurge, Quartz, and VentureBeat.

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