CyberAuto Challenge

A very special thank you to Ford Motor Company for being a Titanium Sponsor and for allowing us the use of two of their buildings to hold/celebrate our 15th year anniversary event.  Ford's enduring commitment to educating the next generation and providing them access to incredible mentors and whole systems (new cars, ECUs, and electrical systems) is absolutely central to capturing the mind of up-and-coming engineers and powering the future in which increasing capabilities enable our people, roads, and homes.

We also especially thank MEDC and the State of Michigan for being a Titanium Sponsor and for all their past support of this event.  Michigan sought to attract the CyberAuto Challenge in 2015, and it has been held in the state ever since.  Michigan consistently proves the value they put on education, training, and their signature industry.

The Auto-ISAC, and the Michigan State Police were each Gold Sponsors helping connect industry, government, and professional organizations and helping the students understand how each element works to ensure the safest and highest quality vehicles.

Thank you to our other sponsors such as NHTSA and Upstream for their support of the program and students.

Finally, thank you to the mentors and students who gave of their time to share knowledge, learn, and be involved in this growing industry.

The 2026 CyberAuto Challenge was held in Dearborn (Greater Detroit) from July 20th - July 24th and hosted students ranging from Ph.D. students to Sophomores from Fourteen US Universities (alphabetically: Berkeley, Clemson, Colorado State University, Dakota State University, Embry-Riddle, Georgia Institute of Technology, Penn State Southeastern Louisiana University, UC-Irvine, UC-Long Beach, University of Michigan, University of Southern Maine, University of Washington, UT-Dallas).

The CyberAuto Challenge is the oldest and longest running event that focuses on automotive cybersecurity (established in 2012). It seeks to inspire and train the next generation workforce and puts students in teams with industry, government, and hackers/researchers to work on real platforms and full systems. Trainers are among the best in the world. The classes change every year, but for the past several years we have emphasized electrical vehicle & infrastructure, forensics, and wireless attacks. Students from schools in 14 different countries have participated (as of 2025). We are strongly industry friendly, and our sponsors have made it possible to hold this annual event at no cost to the participating students.

For images of the 2026 event, please see the Gallery-2026 link.

The “Call for Students” for the 2027 event will be posted on January 5th, 2027 at the Student Application link.

Sponsors and potential mentors - please contact us using the contact page or send an email to CyberAutoChallenge@gmail.com.