Kookmin University-led joint team wins Bosch Future Mobility Challenge 2026

Members of a Kookmin University-led joint student team pose with other competitors during Bosch Future Mobility Challenge 2026 held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from May 16-20. Courtesy of Kookmin University

A joint team of students from Kookmin University and other Korean universities won the top prize at Bosch Future Mobility Challenge (BFMC) 2026, an international autonomous driving and connectivity competition, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from May 16-20.

Kookmin University said Wednesday that the team outperformed competitors during the five-day event in which 57 teams from around the world participated.

The event brought together undergraduate and master’s students who developed their own self-driving algorithms. The participants competed fiercely to demonstrate their technical skills using 1:10-scale autonomous model cars on tracks designed as miniature smart cities that simulated real road conditions.

The Korean team consisted of students participating in a global talent development program jointly run by Kookmin University and the Volkswagen Group WE: Foundation.

The program, called Software Engineering in Automotive and Mobility Ecosystems (SEA:ME), operates under the Convergence and Open Sharing System (COSS) Future Mobility Consortium to provide selected students with mobility software education and training opportunities in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Members of the team, under the guidance of Kookmin University professor Kim Jong-chan, included Kim Ki-hoon and Oh Young-kyo from Kookmin University; Jang Dong-min and Choi Min-hyuk from Inha University; and Kang Ju-heon from Ajou University.

Kookmin University said the team received high scores for demonstrating precise and stable driving performance even in environments with unstable network connections and GPS signals at the competition site by equipping the vehicle with its own localization algorithm.

It added that this year’s victory is particularly meaningful in that it reflects the steady accumulation of the SEA:ME program’ achievements in international competitions. Korean students placed third overall in BFMC 2024, while winning the Best New Participating Team award at the 2025 event.

“We have gained confidence and conviction that future talents who will lead Korea’s autonomous driving technology can also take the lead on the global stage,” said Shin Sung-hwan, professor at Kookmin University's department of automotive engineering and director of the COSS Future Mobility Consortium.

“The efforts and teamwork of our members, who continued to challenge themselves until the very end amid fierce competition, became the driving force behind our victory,” two team members, Kim and Oh, were quoted by a school official as saying. “We were able to learn and grow a great deal through the competition.”

The university said it will continue to nurture key talent in the future mobility sector under the SEA:ME program, which is recognized as an innovative educational model.