This article is more than 5 years old. Hackers will compete for half a million dollars in the Tesla Model 3 hacking contest AFP via Getty Images The Tesla Model 3 is considered one of the most secure vehicles around. Now there are half a million dollars on offer to anyone who can prove otherwise. Since 2007, elite teams of security researchers have met up and taken part in a hacking competition known as Pwn2Own. The contestants are challenged to demonstrate if they can successfully "pwn" popular software, hardware and services. Pwning is hacker slang for taking control of or own in other words. At the last Pwn2Own event, held in Tokyo towards the end of 2019, the Samsung Galaxy S10 was hacked. Twice. Will Tesla experience the same fate with the Model 3 car in Vancouver this March? Pwn2Own 2020 Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) has now officially announced the first Pwn2Own for 2020, to take part in Vancouver at CanSecWest, March 18-20. This time the stakes have been upped in the automotive category: the hacker who can evade the multiple layers of security found in a Tesla Model 3 to pull off a complete vehicle compromise will win a $500,000 (£380,000) prize. Oh yes, and a brand spanking new Tesla Model 3 for good measure. The rules of the Pwn2Own Tesla hacking game To qualify for this "Tier 1" award, arbitrary code execution will need to be achieved within three different Tesla Model 3 sub-systems. The complex exploit chain, involving previously unknown vulnerabilities, will involve entry through tuner, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or modem to begin with. The exploit will then have to move to the infotainment system before ending up in the central data flow Gateway, security center known as VCSEC or Autopilot to take complete control. To make things even harder, man-in-the-middle browser attacks against the Infotainment system are not allowed, nor are key fob relay or rolljam attacks. Another $200,000 in the Tesla Model 3 hacking pot If anyone is feeling especially clever, and past Pwn2Own competitions suggest there will be plenty of super-brains in the room, there's an additional $200,000 (£150,000) to be won. There's $100,000 (£75,000) for displaying arbitrary control of the Tesla CAN bus used to enable microcontroller and device communications. There is also $50,000 (£37,500) on offer for "root persistence" in the Autopilot system that survives a reboot and another for achieving the same with an exploit in the infotainment system. MORE FROM