“Students from 12 schools nationwide compete in engineering debates and autonomous driving contests” ... Hyundai Mobis holds Youth Engineering Leader Festival

[Financial News] Hyundai Mobis held its 2026 Youth Engineering Leader Festival at Hana Academy Seoul in Eunpyeong District, Seoul, on the 7th, bringing together students to share the results of the company’s high school engineering curriculum.
On the 9th, Hyundai Mobis said that about 100 students from 12 high schools nationwide took part in the competition, with Incheon Samsan High School winning the deep-learning division and Incheon Songdo High School winning the ROS2 division of the autonomous vehicle competition.
The event gave students a chance to share the results of the Youth Engineering Leader curriculum, developed by Hyundai Mobis and offered as a course approved by the superintendent of education. It featured three events: an engineering debate competition, an autonomous vehicle competition and the Young Engineering Academic Conference. Students put their engineering thinking, problem-solving abilities and collaboration skills to the test.
In the autonomous vehicle competition, which has been held since 2018, students developed driving algorithms that recognize lane markings and traffic signals and avoid obstacles, then implemented them in model cars. This year’s competition was divided into a deep-learning-based autonomous vehicle division and a ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2)-based Physical AI vehicle division. Teams were evaluated on factors including course departures, the number of collisions with obstacles and completion time, and the team with the most stable driving performance was selected. Incheon Samsan High School won the deep-learning division, and Incheon Songdo High School won the ROS2 division.
In the engineering debate competition, students who had completed “Engineering Communication,” a course in the high school credit system, debated major issues in engineering and technology. At the Young Engineering Academic Conference, students presented research findings on topics including AI, autonomous driving, sensor technology and optimization algorithms. This year also featured research examining future mobility from the perspectives of the humanities and social sciences, which was seen as broadening the field.
In 2024, Hyundai Mobis became the first in the industry to publish a textbook for the regular subject “Engineering Communication,” in line with the full implementation of the high school credit system. Since last year, it has also been running the “Exploring Artificial Intelligence Autonomous Vehicles” course. Currently, 14 general high schools nationwide have adopted the curriculum, and about 1,800 students are building foundational skills in future mobility fields such as autonomous driving and robotics.
Han Sung-hee, head of Hyundai Mobis’ Sustainability Management Office, said, “The Youth Engineering Leader program supports students in developing problem-solving skills based on the engineering knowledge they learn at school and extending that into independent research activities.” Han added, “We plan to continue expanding our support to foster creative engineering talent who will lead the future mobility industry.”
[email protected] Kim Dong-chan Reporter