Kookmin University (President Jung Seung-ryul) announced that the third SEA:ME students participated in the Eclipse SDV Hackathon held in Karlsruhe, Germany from November 20 to 22, 2024, and achieved outstanding results. This competition is a competition that uses Eclipse's open source software and SDV (Software Defined Vehicle) tools to compete for innovative ideas that will open up the future of automotive technology. The “APT” team, which includes Seung-Joo Kim (Department of Automotive IT Convergence, Kookmin University), Han-Bin Yeo (Department of Automotive IT Convergence, Kookmin University), Eun-Ji Lee (Department of Automotive IT Convergence, Kookmin University), Soon-Woong Kim (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University), and Yeon-Jung Lee (42 Seoul), received second place and attracted a lot of attention at the hackathon.

The challenge chosen by the third-term students of SEA:ME was the 'Sunken Kitchen Challenge', which was to design a system that increases vehicle safety using various Eclipse SDV tools. The students developed a system that can prevent accidents by informing drivers in real time of variables such as traffic accidents and weather.

Each team member said that they had a lot of difficulties and challenges in the Eclipse tool and the hackathon environment, but they learned a lot in the process. In particular, they said that they were able to practice how to define and control automotive technology software through the Eclipse SDV platform and felt the importance of solving problems through cross-disciplinary knowledge and collaboration. He also said, “I was very pleased to achieve a good result of second place.”

In addition, the students from Kookmin University, Park Geon-ho, Park Jang-woon, Shin Eui-seok, Cho Seok-hoon, and Chungbuk National University, Jung Jun-beom, who participated in the competition as the “Autobahn” team, chose the theme of “Shift to SDV” and developed a system that detects pedestrians in the blind spot of a vehicle and sends a warning to the vehicle based on this. Although they did not make it to the final round, their design was evaluated as being at a level that could be applied in a real vehicle environment, rather than just an idea for a hackathon.

In addition, they said, “We were very pleased to have achieved a good result of second place.”

In addition, the students from Kookmin University, Park Geon-ho, Park Jang-woon, Shin Eui-seok, and Cho Seok-hoon, who participated in the competition as the ‘Autobahn’ team, chose the theme of ‘Shift to SDV’ and developed a system that detects pedestrians in the blind spots of vehicles and alerts the vehicles in motion based on this.

The Eclipse SDV Hackathon is not just a competition, but a place to discover innovative ideas that will lead the future of automotive technology. Students in the third SEA:ME cohort were able to achieve outstanding results by designing a system that can prevent accidents that can occur on real roads and respond quickly in emergency situations by utilizing various tools and technologies. The experience and knowledge gained from this hackathon will serve as a foundation for the students to overcome the many challenges they will face in the future. The second-place award at the Eclipse SDV Hackathon 2024 marked an important turning point in the future of the automotive technology they will create, and showed the potential for them to achieve more in the future.

Meanwhile, the Software Engineering in Automotive and Mobility Ecosystem (SEA:ME) program is a global software talent development program that allows students to study embedded systems, autonomous driving systems, and mobility ecosystems for 12 months at the Volkswagen Group's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, with the support of the Volkswagen Group's foundation to foster future automotive software talent. The project has been in operation for three years since 2022, led by Kookmin University, the host university of the Advanced Convergence University Project for Innovative Convergence in the Field of High-tech Future Automobiles.

Meanwhile, the SEA:ME (Software Engineering in Automotive and Mobility Ecosystem) program is a global software talent development program supported by the Volkswagen Group's foundation to foster future automotive software talent. Students are sent to Wolfsburg, Germany, where the Volkswagen Group's headquarters are located, for 12 months to learn about embedded systems, autonomous driving systems, and mobility ecosystems.