Students ‘Thinking’ About Automotive Cyber Security

“Taking part in the competition made me think deeper about the road ahead for automotive cybersecurity.”
David Kong, Automotive Electronics Competition winner 2019

This year the UKESF, in partnership with AESIN and with generous support from UltraSoC (now acquired by Siemens), launched a new competition. Students from partner universities were asked to turn their thoughts to the future of cyber security for connected and autonomous vehicles and to write a short ‘think piece’. The standard of entries was impressively high and the students produced some fascinating pieces, demonstrating their strong engagement with the subject. Judges selected two finalists from a substantial number of entries, and the prizes were presented as part of the 2019 AESIN Conference.

UKESF CEO Stew Edmondson spoke as part of the conference welcome, supported by UKESF Scholar Tom. They were joined by a group of Scholar volunteers, who networked with delegates and helped promote the UKESF throughout the conference. Stew also took part in the Executive Panel Discussion.

Competition winner David Kong, UKESF Scholar (sponsored by onsemi) and undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh, received £1,000 prize money. He said, “I’m honoured to have been selected as the winner of the UKESF Automotive Electronics Competition. Taking part in the competition made me think deeper about the road ahead for automotive cybersecurity. As we work towards releasing Level 5 autonomous vehicles, it is crucial that engineers consider cybersecurity from both software and hardware perspectives. I am very grateful to my UKESF scholarship sponsor company, ON Semiconductor, for providing me with the summer work placement that opened my eyes to the world of automotive cybersecurity. Thank you to the UKESF, AESIN and UltraSoC for organising the competition.”

Finalist James Leyland, University of York, received £500. The winning entries are re-produced HERE.

Aileen Ryan, Chief Strategy Officer from UltraSoC, on presenting the award at the AESIN Conference, “Following a strong and substantial number of entries, there were two very strong finalists in David and James, so well done to both! David’s winning submission on cybersecurity and its impact on functional safety, including addressing issues of industry standards, was very insightful; and James’ analysis of data generated by autonomous vehicles and questions of passenger safety – these functional safety and cybersecurity topics are a major focus for us here at UltraSoC. Congratulations to David and to James; and thank you to AESIN and the UKESF for organising the award.”

---