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26 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2025 handle while wearing protective gear. Just in case things went wrong, you were tethered to a safety hook so someone could drag you away if the equip- ment decided to make things, let's say, interesting. Recently, I had a firsthand look—checking off an item on my technical bucket list—of seeing just how quickly the industry is changing. Whilein San Fran- cisco, I rode in an autonomous taxi through the city's busy streets. As it navigated entirely on its own, I was reminded of Johnny Cab from the 1990 science fiction classic "Total Recall," with Arnold Schwarzenegger. What was once pure imagination on the movie screen had now become a reality roll- ing down Market Street. It was a surreal moment in my life. It was an eye-opening experience to sit in the back seat, watching the wheel turn itself, and feeling the car respond to traffic, pedestrians, and lights with- out a human driver. It underscored how far trans- portation has advanced in just a few decades, but more importantly, it highlighted the unseen technol- ogy making it all possible. Behind the smooth ride lies an enormous amount of power electronics— from high-voltage traction systems to the convert- ers that feed the sensors, processors, and AI hard- ware that guide the vehicle. I was acutely struck by the thought that autonomy isn't only about algorithms, cameras, and LiDAR. It depends equally on the high- power systems that supply reli- able energy to everything else. Without that backbone, the car doesn't move, the processors don't compute, and the promise of autonomy collapses. So, who will be laying out these advanced systems? As the indus- try shifts toward higher voltages, faster switching devices, and tighter safety standards, the pool of PCB designers fully equipped to handle high-power design is surprisingly shallow. Many have strong backgrounds in digital logic, signal integrity, and embed- ded systems. But far fewer have been trained to think in terms of insulation coordination, partial discharge, creepage and clearance, or field management. Universities often emphasize coding, AI, and high-speed design, while power electronics—espe- cially in the kilovolt, multi-kilowatt class—gets far less classroom attention. At the same time, compa- nies are rapidly transitioning to 400 V, 800 V, and even 1,000 V automotive platforms, where the con- sequences of design mistakes are far more severe than a corrupted data packet. That creates a skills gap because technology is advancing faster than the workforce pipeline. This will only worsen the skills gap in the high-power design area. What we really need are cross-disci- plinary PCB designers, professionals who under- stand not just schematics, simulation, and high- speed design but also real-world physics, materi- als science, and safety standards for high power. In the words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that. High power can be a slippery term unless placed in context. In general engineering terms, high power refers to systems that handle such large amounts of energy that thermal management, insulation coordi- nation, and safety become primary design concerns. However, high power is generally defined not by voltage or current, but by their product—the amount of energy being transferred. What counts as "high" E L E M E N TA RY, M R . WATS O N