Progressive Insurance has ponied up $10 million to sponsor the Automotive X PRIZE. Awesome! Here's Progressive's explanation of the competition.
The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE is a multiyear competition in which $10 million in prize money will be awarded to teams that design clean, production capable vehicles that meet all of the following requirements:
- Exceed 100 mpge or the equivalent (Some cars might not be fueled strictly by gasoline, so they would need to produce a gasoline equivalent of 100 mpge.).
- Meet strict emission requirements.
- Can compete in rigorous stage races that test real-world driving conditions.
- Be safe, affordable, and desirable.
I love the prize paradigm for encouraging research, and it's great to see an Evil Corporation like Progressive make this of leap of faith. I hope they get a lot of recognition and respect for it.
