The YACC team – Yet Another Careless Car has qualified for the final stage of the Bosch Future Mobility Challenge 2026, standing out as the only Portuguese team amongst the 22 selected for this decisive stage of the competition.
The 2026 edition proved to be particularly demanding, and was described by the organisers themselves as the most competitive ever. Of the 141 teams that applied, only 78 were admitted to the competition, 57 completed the qualifying round and just 22 secured a place in the final stage, which underscores the high standard achieved by the team from the Department of Informatics and Computing Engineering (DEI) at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP).
The YACC team comprises students from the Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics and Computing Engineering (L.EIC) – Joana Azevedo Louro, Luís Miguel Costa Gonçalves, Luís Miguel Rosa Santos, Luís Wolffrom Barbosa and Leonor Silva Bidarra, under the mentorship of Bruno Lima, a lecturer at DEI. The initiative also involves Ricardo Cruz, a DEI lecturer as well, who has been developing work in the field of autonomous vehicles and who mentored the first team to reach this stage of the competition, “BeepLearning”, in 2022.
YACC’s qualification marks the third time that a team comprising members of FEUP’s DEI has reached the final stage of this competition (following “BeepLearning” in 2022 and “BadSeeds” in 2024), consolidating the institution’s presence in a highly demanding international technical and scientific context.
The final stage, which includes the Testing Days, Semi-Finals and Finals, will take place between 16 and 20 May in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where the teams will demonstrate the performance of their solutions in a competitive environment.
The Bosch Future Mobility Challenge is an international technical competition organised by the Bosch Engineering Center Cluj-Napoca, which challenges student teams to develop autonomous driving and connectivity algorithms for 1/10-scale vehicles. These vehicles operate in an environment simulating a miniature smart city, being tested in scenarios such as lane keeping, navigating junctions, interpreting road signs and interacting with other road users.
Further information on the team’s journey can be followed via their Instagram page, where it will also be possible to support the team in the race for the Audience Award, which is awarded based on audience interaction.
We wish YACC every success in this final phase, as well as a truly enriching experience, both technically and personally.