Automotive X Prize Grand Prix

Remember a while back when there was a competition to build a privately funded rocket ship that could earn you 10 million dollars if successful? Well now that concept is being applied to the world of automotive efficiency and all I can say is bravo. This version of the X Prize is much more practical and essential given current market and environmental conditions.

The Automotive X Prize invites teams from around the world to focus on a single goal: design viable, clean and super-efficient cars that people want to buy.

The X Prize challenge will consist of two vehicle classes: Mainstream and Alternative. Mainstream vehicles will be tasked with carrying four or more passengers, have four or more wheels, and allow for a 200-mile range. Alternative-class vehicles will be required to carry two or more passengers, have no constraints on the number of wheels, and allow for a 100-mile range. All vehicles will need to meet requirements for performance and features to make the cars attractive to consumers.

It seems that my last few posts have somehow revolved around the issue of crowdsourcing. I'm not hung up on this topic, it simply seems to be coming up very often. No longer do we need to rely on the Thomas Edisons of the world to bring us innovation. There are hundreds and thousands of smart individuals. Perhaps individually they don't have the resources to make contributions to innovation, but collectively the puzzle pieces can fit together to bring something great to the table.

I for one am extremely excited to see where this competition takes us the global automotive market. Please check out the offical Automotive X Prize blog here.

Too Little Too Late. The Death of the Big Three.

The U.S. automotive industry has been a frequent subject in the news lately in regards to its request for a bailout from the U.S. taxpayers. It seems that we may be on the path to reject this request and I am of the opinion that decision is the right one.

My heart goes out to the families of people whose careers are vested into the economy of the big three, but I’ve come to the conclusion that we CANNOT bail out anymore industries. I’m actually very regretful that the country already has pledged to do this for the banking industry. Not just because of the mismanagement of those funds we will most certainly see, but mainly because of how much this act will stifle our nations ability to innovate and grow faster than the rest of the world.

In the 1970s my family decided to move away from what was then the Soviet Union and come to the United States. Among the MANY reasons they had for doing so, one of the major issues was with the system of government at that time and how it greatly suppressed innovation. If you took company A or company B, or worker A and worker B, each entity had the same mindset. If they were to fail or produce less, their counterparts would make up for it. If they were to produce more and bring some kind of superiority to the marketplace, the government would distribute it elsewhere. So what you have in that situation is essentially a psychological handicap on being better. If you know you’re not going to be rewarded for doing some well, efficiently, and smartly, then it is likely you WON’T do it.

It would be ignorant of me to say that the plan to bail out Detroit would be a step in the direction of communism, but what I can say comfortably is that taking that action will without question not make that industry a better one. By granting these companies a stay of execution we will be extending their poor business model and stopping other and possibly better companies from springing up and taking their place.

In the end we have to remember that the demand of vehicles will not change regardless of whether the bailout happens or not. There is a specific demand right now and too many producers of vehicles for that demand. Someone is going to have to either go away or find a way to make vehicles that are great enough to raise the desire for new automobiles. That increase in innovation and efficiency is ONLY going to happen when we wipe the slate clean and start over.

Again, I don’t mean to promote the loss of livelihood for such a large group of people. They are in an unfortunate situation and one that they were put in by a poorly managed global powerhouse. My hope is that the Teslas of the world grow fast enough in popularity so that those folks with automotive experience have a new and better place to provide for themselves and their family.