Quick.  How many automotive firms are there in the United States?  Way more than I ever dreamed.  The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE attracted entries from 111 teams of which 88 are from the United States.  Competing for the $10 million jackpot are names we recognize  like Tesla Motors and those we do not including my favorite,7K Hamsters, which unfortunately did not make the cut.  On Monday the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE announced that 43 teams with 53 vehicles from 18 US States and 11 countries had made it through the stringent Design Judging phase.  Making the short list were two San Diego innovators, Aptera and SSI-Racing.  These teams will now be entering the final competition events that will be taking place from May 2010 with the announcement of the winners that Fall.  A no-show in the competition was Fisker Automotive.  I guess the opportunity to score $10 million looks like chump change compared to the $529 million loan the Federal government is sending their way. 

The goal of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE is to inspire a new generation of super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change.   Click here for contest details. 

The X Prize Foundation is the brilliant vision of Dr. Peter Diamandis.  In May we were fortunate to have Dr. Diamandis share an evening with us at the MIT Enterprise Forum.  Click here for Bruce Bigelow’s article in Xconomy.