Supplemental Rear Wheel Power Steering System for a FSAE Vehicle

Virginia Motorsports Education is working to develop their first vehicle for the Formula SAE collegiate design series. As members of the team, my capstone group is working to design, build, and test a rear wheel power steering (RWPS) system for the vehicle to improve handling and stability at both low and high speeds. One of the crucial parts of the SAE collegiate design series is the involvement of various companies in the automotive, energy, and manufacturing industries, both through sponsoring the competition as well as sponsoring certain teams. Teams are sponsored to help support the education of their members for the industry, thus allowing training before being on the job; however, it tends to just be top teams that are directly sponsored, and this creates a pattern of what determines “success” at competition. Many of these companies are at the top of their field and claim a drive for innovation and to set themselves apart from their competitors, yet truly innovative companies are rare. Using Hall’s and Martin’s radical innovation framework as a base, I will evaluate the automotive industry and highlight the similarities between the industry and experiential learning opportunities at universities, and the damage this causes to creativity and innovation. I will track the way that the automotive industry stifles radical innovation. I will then pivot to track how they influence experiential learning, mainly SAE collegiate design series, and might be recreating that same effect on a college level.