Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Join our Team & Take the Challenge!

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE invites you to become a member of our team – our Carbonrally team.  We are excited to be leading a team on Carbonrally.com, a website that develops honor-based competitions that call for small changes, which lead to big impacts.

While X PRIZEs are focused on making big impacts, many supporters have asked how they can make a difference on a day-to-day level.  Even small efforts can have a huge effect.  Carbonrally not only challenges people to make these small changes, but it tracks the collective impact of these changes so that people can see exactly what they have accomplished. Bit by bit, based upon their participation, the Carbonrally community learns the connections between climate and lifestyle, and rack-up literally tons of carbon benefits along the way.

 

In addition to becoming a part of our Carbonrally team, we invite you to participate in the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE sponsored Lowrider Challenge.  This challenge helps participants to understand how to gain fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. 

We hope that you invest 5 minutes to accept our invitation to become a part of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Carbonrally team and register to take the Lowrider Challenge.  

 

Here’s how it works:

 

To start:

1.    Join the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Carbonrally team

2.    Take the Lowrider Challenge and start saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions

 If you want to do more:

3.    Visit the Carbonrally Challenge tab to learn about and participate in more challenges.  A new featured challenge is posted every few weeks. Most challenges are easy, short-term actions, and are categorized by transport, school or office, home, food, wild card, and date.

4.    Do you have an idea of your own?  Carbonrally allows the public to propose great ideas for saving energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.  The Carbonrally community votes on the best ideas to become Featured Challenges.  We want to sponsor and participate in lots of automotive-related challenges in order to educate the public about the immediate impact that they can have. Share your idea by visiting the Carbonrally Workshop page. Then, let us know that your idea has been posted by leaving a comment on the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Team page and we will get out the word for people to vote on it.

5.    Do you want to know how the team is doing? Carbonrally tracks the collective impacts, which reveals the power of many people acting together to get the job done.  Visit Carbonrally.com to track our progress by teams, members, and locations.

6.    Invite friends, family, co-workers, or share broadly. The more people who participate on the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Carbonrally team, the greater difference we can make. 

 

Join our team and lead the charge to educate the public about how small changes can have a huge impact.

Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Responds to HP2g Claims

HP2g put out a release last night claiming withdrawal from the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE as well as making some unsubstantiated allegations. I’d like an opportunity to set the record straight:

 

As you recall, HP2g was one of over 120 teams that entered the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE non-binding Letter of Intent program. While Mr. Pelmear states in his release that HP2G voluntarily withdrew from the competition, HP2g actually did not complete the full Registration Application prior to the deadline and was therefore rejected as a Registered Team.

 

Mr. Pelmear claims in his statement that an LOI contender “was allowed to be part of the competition rule setting and ultimate team evaluation process” (italics added for emphasis). As for the former, X PRIZE deliberately sought feedback from a variety of sources in an effort to construct a fair competition incorporating the best industry insight from a wide range of automotive experts. It is true that all teams in fact had the opportunity to provide input... We recorded over 2,000 comments, held a webinar with the LOI Contenders, and reviewed and considered input from every LOI Contender that took the time to contact us. We also held multiple working groups with industry experts to establish the competition guidelines.

 

With regard to the latter accusation levied by Mr. Pelmear, at no point were teams were involved in decisions about rules and procedures. It is very important to note that none of the teams are part of the judging panels for the upcoming Design Judging Phase of the competition nor were any teams part of a competitor evaluation process in the past.  

 

Here are two excerpts from official documents that may prove useful:

From the Letter of Intent itself:

                                                                    

“The Team will receive timely updates on significant competition developments, including the release of draft competition guidelines for public comment.  In addition, while there is no guarantee that the Team’s suggestions will be accepted, the X PRIZE Foundation will provide written responses to all comments and suggestions submitted by the Team in response to the draft competition guidelines.  As well, the Team will have an opportunity to submit additional comments before final competition guidelines are released."

        

From the Competition Guidelines:

 

“We recognize that some contributors may end up competing, or perhaps advising those who compete, but that is an unavoidable result of engaging with so many experts who have real-world knowledge of the automotive industry.  We believe that the Guidelines published here are balanced and credible, and that this would not have been possible without seeking as much feedback as possible from diverse parties, without regard for future possible conflicts.  Had we only sought or accepted input from those unlikely to have a future interest in the competition, the result would have been poor Guidelines.  Our process has been open, and we do not hide our involvement with any party."

                                                                                      

“With the publication of these final Guidelines, we are adopting a strict no-conflict policy.  For example, the Prize Development Advisory Board will be disbanded and we will now appoint a conflict-free Prize Administration Advisory Board."

 

As to his unsubstantiated allegations, I can only say that the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE has consistently run a highly-public and transparent process in accordance with the highest professional standards of conduct as a fair and honest broker. We wish Horsepower Sales well in the development and sale of their technology and we remain focused on our accepted Registered Teams. We wish them all luck as we move forward to the Design Judging phase of the competition.

Fuel Our Future Now Introduced to Educators

www.FuelOurFutureNow.com was formally introduced to more than 12,000 teachers, science coordinators, curriculum planners, administrators, principals, teacher educators, industry representatives, and students from all over the country at the 57th Annual NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) National Conference on Science in Education in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on March 12-22, 2009.

 Exterior of Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

www.FuelOurFutureNow.com is a new, dynamic, online knowledge center inspired by the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE and created in collaboration with Discovery Education, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the X PRIZE Foundation.

 Brad Fountain at the Discovery Education Booth

In an interactive workshop on www.FuelOurFutureNow.com led by Brad Fountain, Manager of New Products, Discovery Education Network, participants learned how to fuel K-12 student curiosity about alternative energy sources, advanced vehicle design, climate change, and the future of transportation with engaging classroom resources connected to the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Education Program. For example, the participants built and modified balloon-powered cars as part of a hands-on activity from Lesson 4 of the grades 6-8 curriculum, where students demonstrate the relationship between weight and fuel efficiency by constructing a model vehicle and conducting an experiment.

 Joel Treadwell photo of a completed balloon-powered car

Members from the Louisiana-based Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Registered Team Global-E were also present as Team Leader Carl Guichard discussed the reasons why they have entered three newly-designed Mainstream class vehicles in the competition, as well as their efforts to engage the greater New Orleans education community and to promote interest in science, technology, engineering, and math career development.

 Joel Treadwell photo of Carl Guichard addressing participants

In the days following the NSTA Conference there have been many articles and reviews of www.FuelOurFutureNow.com. Two of note include those appearing in the T.H.E. Journal and District Administration.

Progressive Auto X PRIZE Team to Live Blog on Thursday, April 9

In conjunction with this week's Registered Teams Announcement, and the opening of the New York Auto Show, Cristin Lindsay and fellow members of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE team will be available here, for real-time comment and conversation about this week's announcement.  Don't forget to come back on Thursday from 12:30pm-1:30pm EST to post your questions and speak directly with Cristin.

Flip the Switch for Earth Hour

 

 

The Progressive Automotive X PRIZE places a major focus on affordability, safety, and the environment. It is about developing real, production-capable cars that consumers want to buy, not science projects or concept cars. This progress is needed because today’s oil consumption is unsustainable and because automotive emissions significantly contribute to global warming and climage change.

 

Make a statement of concern about our planet and climate change by participating in Earth Hour on Saturday, March 28, 2009. Individuals, businesses, governments, and communities in over 2,900 cities and towns in 83 countries will switch off their lights at 8:30 PM local time for one hour, wherever they live on the planet earth. In fact, over 829 icons and landmarks around the world – the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, Big Ben in London, the Empire State Building in New York, the Acropolis in Athens, the Colosseum in Rome, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Sydney Opera House, the Las Vegas Strip, and others – are expected to go dark to show their support.

 

Turn out. Take action.

Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Forum Board Re-Vamp

We are in the final stages of reviewing application and are now beginning to turn our focus to initiatives that can support the pool of registered teams. While the final announcement of accepted teams is still a few weeks away, we are working to launch a few initiatives around this same time. One of these projects includes the re-launch of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE Forum board.

We took down the Forum board a few weeks ago, as it had begun to lose relevancy with our change in focus. More importantly, the application lacked the robust security that we needed to keep spammers from interfering with the dialogue. We will be launching a new board in the coming weeks, and as we formulate topics, we would love to hear from you. What do you want to discuss? What do you want to hear about from the teams? And, teams, what do you want to be able to share or ask for in a public setting?

Our goal is to make the new Forum board a useful (and spam-free) resource that benefits open dialogue amongst the public and our competing teams. We know that there were issues with the last board, so here is your chance to let us know what you believe can be done to make this new board better.

Commander Andy Karsner

The X PRIZE Foundation was delighted to hear that the King of Sweden is honoring Andy Karsner with the prestigious insignia of Commander of the Polar Star.   Many of you know that - during his tenure as Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Dept. of Energy - Andy initiated DOE's strong and ongoing support of the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE.   And many of you know that Andy has continued to be supportive as a new and active official Advisor to the PRIZE.  

But you may not have known that, as Assistant Secretary, Andy was extremely active internationally as well as domestically.   Among his initiatives were two bilateral agreements between Sweden and the U.S. covering joint developments in biofuels and plug-in electric hybrids.   The King of Sweden is honoring Andy for these and other efforts that have strengthened cooperative developments in the field of renewable energy.   Congratulations Commander Karsner!

Only 1 Day Left in Startup Nation's Elevator Pitch Contest!

Just a quick report that at least one of our Registered Teams has spotted the “2009 Elevator Pitch Contest”, which I blogged about last week, and submitted an entry!

 

You can check out the commercial for NgEK by clicking here: http://www.startupnation.com/elevator-pitch-2009/contestant/5894/index.php.

 

Don't forget, the deadline to submit your own video for Startup Nation's 2009 Elevator Pitch Contest is tomorrow, March 20! If you're an entrepreneur in need of Venture Capital funding, this is a great opportunity.  Just go to http://www.startupnation.com/elevator-pitch-2009 and submit a two-minute video or audio file to pitch your business and your need for investment dollars.