Forty-Three Qualified Teams Automotive Xprize


Qualified Teams have passed the second judging stage of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. After acceptance of their Registration Application, these teams went on to pass a rigorous review of their Business Plan and initial Technical Specifications.

68 pages of guidelines describe the requirements of the judging process.

The PIAXP will encourage production-capable vehicles and vehicle modifications (not concept cars and experimental products) through tough entrance requirements, judging criteria, performance tests, and a stage race that together evaluate manufacturability, marketability, safety, durability and performance.

For the Business plan qualifying teams had to describe how they planned to go to market. Including high-level insight into their intended production and manufacturing plans, your market demographics, manufacturing cost and challenges, pricing, key assumptions, etc. They also had to describe how they anticipate meeting the servicing requirements of this vehicle. The Xprize people want to know that a few thousand of the car that wins will be made.

There is also a long list of required safety and performance and emissions standards.

[May]-August, 2010 PIAXP vehicle competition events (shakedown stages, knockout qualifier, vehicle tests, race stages)
Locations: TBD;

Mid-August, 2010: Final Race Stage, location TBD

September, 2010: Demonstration stage and awards ceremony
Location: Washington, DC

Xprize Car Market realities:

The automotive industry accounts for 10% of the GDP in developed nations. It uses 15% of the world’s steel, 40% of the world’s rubber, 25% of the world’s glass, and 40% of the world’s annual oil output.

Putting super-efficient cars into the hands of consumers requires much more than a technical performance achievement – winners must deal with the realities of manufacturability and post-delivery service. They must also deal with federal and state regulations on emissions and safety.

Although biofuel, fuel-cell, and plug-in technologies are all promising, current consumer attitudes and transportation infrastructure all but require continued use of gasoline and diesel fuels.

Because automotive emissions significantly contribute to global warming and climate change (U.S. cars and light trucks are responsible for 45% of the CO2 emitted by automobiles globally