Mercedes Benz

ZF -- which has hundreds of openings for engineers -- is sponsoring at least 21 teams around the country and is donating $330,000 to help FIRST teams buy the mechanical parts to build robots. The tens of billions of dollars being spent to develop self-driving vehicles has exacerbated a frustrating problem in the auto industry: the shortage of engineers. Startups and established companies need engineers for their automated driving projects. But there aren't enough to fill all the openings. Some companies, such as ZF Group, the giant German supplier best known for transmissions, are taking a longer view and are ramping up involvement in FIRST, the organization founded nearly 30 years ago by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen. FIRST -- For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology -- offers high school students an avenue to get involved in science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM skills. Students build robots that are required to perform tasks, such...