"Bosch Future Mobility Challenge (BFMC) Alumni Survey (8 editions)"

"Why do engineering students who perform wellin coursework still face difficulties when building integratedautonomous systems? A key gap lies in end-to-end developmentunder real constraints. We examine this issue through the BoschFuture Mobility Challenge (BFMC), a hardware-in-the-loopautonomous driving competition in which teams develop fullsoftware stacks for 1:10-scale vehicles and deploy them on physicaltracks over extended preparation cycles. Using alumni surveyresponses from eight editions, we find that participants reportstrong overall satisfaction despite only moderate infrastructureratings, suggesting that structured technical difficulty can supportlearning when tasks remain solvable and iteration remains possible.We interpret this pattern through three mechanisms: integrationpressure, debugging under constraints, and reliability-centeredevaluation, and derive design implications for competition-basedITS training and workforce development."