5th Automotive CFD Prediction Workshop
8–9 October 2026 · DAMA Technopole, Bologna, Italy
Announcements
| Aug 14, 2026 | The AutoCFD5 results data submission deadline has been extended from 21 August to 4 September 2026, giving participants more time to complete and upload their spreadsheets. Submit through the result-submission form and see all key dates. |
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| Jul 17, 2026 | The AutoCFD5 agenda has been updated. View the latest AutoCFD5 workshop schedule. |
| Jun 09, 2026 | Abstract deadline now extended to June 15th. |
View all AutoCFD5 announcements
Key dates and next steps
Current status: Abstract submissions closed on 15 June 2026. Early-bird registration ends 28 August 2026, the results data submission deadline has been extended to 4 September 2026, and the workshop takes place 8–9 October 2026.
Register for AutoCFD5 View the agenda Case 1 details Case 2 details Submit results
Aims and scope
AutoCFD5 will take place on 8–9 October 2026 at DAMA Technopole, Bologna, Italy, with CINECA and Upstream CFD as local co-organisers. This follows the success of the previous four workshops: AutoCFD1 in Oxford (2019), AutoCFD2 in Berlin (2021), AutoCFD3 in Barcelona (2022) and AutoCFD4 in Belfast (2024).
The main objective of the 5th Automotive CFD Prediction Workshop is to continue the community effort to assess the predictive capability of CFD codes for road-car geometries. Using prescribed geometry, boundary conditions and computational grids, the workshop aims to provide practical modelling guidance for the automotive community, including best practice for turbulence modelling, meshing and numerical schemes. It also brings together automotive CFD researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to discuss future directions. The AutoCFD5 test cases build on the benchmark configurations used for AutoCFD4. For the AI/ML activity, the open-source DrivAerML dataset is the standard training dataset used to assess model architectures.
Computing the test cases is not required to attend the workshop, but participants are strongly encouraged to submit results.
Technology Focus Groups
Following positive feedback from AutoCFD4, the workshop continues to use the Technology Focus Group (TFG) model. Each participant is invited to join a TFG covering one of five core areas. The groups meet every four to five weeks to share findings and results collaboratively in the run-up to the workshop. This enables deeper technical discussion over a longer period than the two workshop days alone. Contact the relevant TFG leaders below to join the meetings, which began in mid-2025.
Meshing TFG - Vangelis Skaperdas (Cadence / BETA-CAE Systems)
Noise Factors TFG - Burkhard Hupertz (Ford)
AI/ML TFG - Neil Ashton (NVIDIA) and Astrid Walle (Pasteur Labs)
Scale Resolving Simulations (SRS) TFG - Charles Mockett and Marian Fuchs (Upstream CFD)
HPC TFG - Herbert Owen and Oriol Lehmkuhl (Barcelona Supercomputing Center)
Read the Technology Focus Group scope and goals.
Read the AutoCFD data policy.
Organisers
- Simone Bnà (CINECA) - local organiser
- Neil Ashton (NVIDIA)
- Burkhard Hupertz (Ford)
- Gary Page (Loughborough University)
- Charles Mockett (Upstream CFD)
- Astrid Walle (Pasteur Labs)
- Vangelis Skaperdas (BETA-CAE Systems)
- Ben Thornber (Queens University Belfast)
- Herbert Owen (Barcelona Supercomputing Center)
- Charles Ribes (Stellantis)
Meet the AutoCFD5 organising committee or email admin@autocfd.org with workshop questions.