2026 Hotai AI Hackathon Now Open: Over NT$1M in Prizes, Solve Real TOYOTA Business Challenges with AI
Hotai Motor's 2026 AI Hackathon is open for registration, themed 'AI as the Core Engine, Turning Creativity into Deployable Solutions.' This year features 7 corporate challenge tracks — including a TOYOTA gas-to-EV transition challenge — with total prizes over NT$1 million. Eligibility, judging criteria, prizes, and the registration link, all in one place.
If you're looking for an AI competition where your idea could actually get used by a real company — not just another concept-pitch contest — the 2026 Hotai AI Hackathon is now open for registration. The theme is "AI as the Core Engine, Turning Creativity into Deployable Solutions" — the emphasis is on "deployable": companies want proposals they can actually put to use.
Register for the 2026 Hotai AI Hackathon
What kind of challenges are teams solving?
This year's hackathon has 7 corporate challenge tracks, each a real problem faced by a Hotai Group brand. TOYOTA's track, for example, is "Smart Transition: AI-Powered Gas-to-EV TOYOTA Experience" — exploring how AI can help drivers transition from gas cars to EVs. Full details for each track are only available on the official contest site under "Corporate Challenge Tracks."
Who can join?
The eligibility bar is fairly low — both students and working professionals can form teams:
- Eligibility: Open to high school/vocational school students, university students, and working professionals. Each team must designate one team lead (must hold ROC/Taiwan nationality) as the point of contact. Minors must submit a legal guardian's consent form.
- Team size: 2–5 members per team. No cross-team participation and no solo entries. Each team may add up to 2 mentors (not limited to faculty), who don't count toward the team member limit.
- Rights & licensing: Teams that make it to the finals must submit a copyright and likeness licensing consent form.
- Submission limit: Each team may submit up to 7 proposals total, but only one proposal per challenge track — no reusing or mixing the same proposal across tracks. Registration is "one submission per entry," so teams submitting multiple proposals need to register separately for each.
How are the preliminary and final rounds judged?
The judging criteria differ between rounds, with the final round weighting real-world feasibility more heavily:
- Preliminary round: Theme relevance 30%, creativity 25%, proposal feasibility 25%, AI integration 20%
- Final round: Proposal feasibility 25%, AI integration 20%, business value 20%, completion quality 20%, presentation 15%
How much prize money is on the table?
The prizes are generous this year — total prize pool exceeds NT$1 million:
- 1st place: NT$300,000 + trophy (1 team)
- 2nd place: NT$250,000 + trophy (1 team)
- 3rd place: NT$200,000 + trophy (1 team)
- Rising Star Award: NT$50,000 (4 teams)
- Honorable Mention: NT$10,000 (8 teams)
Every winning team member and mentor also receives a certificate.
Bottom line
If you've got an AI project idea sitting around, or you want a stage with a real corporate challenge and an actual shot at getting your solution adopted, this hackathon is worth signing up for. Form a team, line up a mentor, pick the challenge track you're most confident about, and focus the rest of your effort on making sure your proposal holds up on both "feasibility" and "AI integration."
➡️ Go to the Official Contest Site / Register
Source: 2026 Hotai AI Hackathon official registration page. All information and images are summarized from the official page; actual rules are governed by the organizer's official announcements.
