Jan. 15, 2008 -- It's not as sexy as flying in space, but a new competition by the X Prize Foundation has the potential to be just as revolutionary: producing mainstream cars that can travel at least 100 miles on a gallon of gas.
The Automotive X Prize is closely modeled on the 2004 Ansari X Prize, which offered a $10 million cash prize to spur development. A commercial version of the winning vehicle called SpaceShipOne is under development for Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways.
So far, 50 teams have given notice and $1,000 each to the X Prize Foundation to indicate their interest in vying for the Automotive X Prize, said project director Dan Foley. Formal registration begins in March.
At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, the foundation issued a call for proposals from cities wanting to host the contest. Five venues will be selected for preliminary runs, which begin in 2009, and another five for the finals in 2010.
Contestants must compete in all rounds or face elimination, Foley said.
"This is not a competition being conducted in a laboratory or someplace in the desert," Foley told Discovery News. "We're seeking some places with challenging weather conditions, where it's wet or snowy, or where there are hills. These are fuel-efficient cars being operated in normal conditions, on highways and in cities."
Extremely good gas mileage is just the beginning of what the winning entrants must accomplish. The cars have to go fast -- 65 mph or better -- and keep any harmful emissions extremely low. And they can't be concept cars with single, or even limited, production capability.
"We want to make these vehicles available," Foley said. "The American people need to see that fuel efficiency, which usually means smaller, lighter cars, can also be highway safe."
The contest has sparked interest from well-heeled upstarts Telsa Motors and Aptera Motors and home-grown efforts such as Maine Automotive X. Teams from six countries outside of the United States, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Australia and Canada, have expressed interest in competing as well.
While Honda and other mainstream car manufacturers assisted with the contest development, so far none has signed a letter of intent to compete, Foley said.
The prize amounts have not yet been announced, but Foley said the X Prize doesn't run contests for less than $10 million.
In addition to the Ansari X Prize, the foundation is spearheading a $30-million contest, underwritten by Google, to land a privately developed rover on the surface of the moon. It is also offering a $10-million prize to the first team to sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days in an attempt to jump-start quick, affordable gene sequencing for preventative medicine.
The Automotive X Prize has gained the support of a myriad of government and private agencies.
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