Progressive Automotive X PRIZE

Knockout Qualifying Stage Wraps First Week

Here at the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, we've just wrapped the first week of our pivotal Knockout Qualifying Stage. Seventeen vehicles from 14 teams will continue on to the second week of activities and compete in another round of rigorous on-track emissions and dynamic safety events. Congratulations to those teams continuing on to week 2 of Knockout. These include: Aptera (California), Edison2 (Virginia), Illuminati Motor Works (Illinois), amp (Ohio), Tata Motors Limited (United Kingdom), Li-Ion Motors (North Carolina), RaceAbout Association (Finland), Western Washington University (Washington), ZAP (California), FVT Racing (Canada), Spira (Thailand), Commuter Cars (Washington), TW4XP (Germany), and X-Tracer Team (Switzerland).

During this first week of the Knockout Stage, competitor vehicles had to pass technical inspections, which were also conducted during Shakedown (the first competition stage) as well as efficiency and range tests. These were tough tests and we knew it was going to be a challenging week for the teams.  To advance to the Finals Stage, team vehicles needed to demonstrate to the ability to achieve at least two-thirds the minimum fuel economy and range requirements.  For fuel economy, this translates to at least 67 MPGe for both vehicle classes. For range, this translates to a minimum of 134 miles for Mainstream class entries (200 miles range required at the Finals Stage) and 67 miles for the Alternative class (100 miles range required at the Finals Stage).

 

Next week’s events include on-track emissions and dynamic safety tests. The emissions test, required for vehicles with internal combustion engines only, consists of a four lap run on Michigan International Speedway’s two mile oval, with an average speed of approximately 23 MPH. There will be six stops per lap. The dynamic safety events consist of an acceleration (0 to 60 MPH) test, braking (60 to 0 MPH) test, accident avoidance test (also known as an emergency double lane change maneuver), highway acceleration (40 – 65 MPH) test, and a lateral acceleration test. Click here for more information about each on-track event. Track team successes and watch the action live via streaming video at http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/live.

21 TEAMS KICK OFF KNOCKOUT QUALIFYING STAGE AT MIS!

Sunday marked the start of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Knockout Qualifying Stage, the second of three on-track competition stages unfolding at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) in Brooklyn, Michigan this summer.  The teams that survived the first competition stage, called Shakedown, will be joined by seven additional teams that passed a “makeup” version of the Shakedown Stage at MIS June 16-18. Congratulations to TW4XP (Germany), FVT Racing (Canada), Illuminati Motor Works (Illinois), Li-Ion Motors (formerly Team EVI of North Carolina), Enginer (Michigan), Global-E (Louisiana), and Western Washington University (Washington).

 

The Shakedown “makeup” was held for teams that were unable to travel to MIS for the original Shakedown due to Iceland’s volcanic eruptions or for teams that received conditional or probationary passes at Shakedown – meaning they were required to repeat select on-track competition events and/or technical inspections. 

 

During this Knockout Qualifying Stage, competition officials will re-conduct inspections and certify each vehicle’s readiness for this stage’s on-track performance challenges. In order to pass, teams must demonstrate that their vehicles can achieve at least two-thirds of the competition’s key performance targets, including range, emissions and the stated 100 MPGe (miles per gallon or energy equivalent) fuel efficiency goal under real world driving conditions. This translates to at least 67 MPGe, no more than 300 grams of carbon dioxide emissions per mile, and range of at least 134 miles for the Mainstream class and 67 miles for the Alternative class. They also have to pass acceleration, braking and avoidance tests that will be conducted by our partners at Consumer Reports. Vehicles that successfully meet or beat these targets will qualify to move on to the Finals Stage where they will compete for their share of the $10 million Grand Prize. This will be a difficult but pivotal stage for all participants.

 

The remaining cars in this competition are spectacular examples of how prize competitions can spur revolutionary innovation – in this case, super fuel efficient vehicles that get at least 100 MPGe while meeting consumer performance expectations. I have no doubt that these teams are building the cars of the future.

 

If you’re interested in seeing the competing vehicles up close, please visit MIS on Friday, June 25, when special access and tours of the competition events will be offered free of charge. You may also check them out during the Great Lakes Wine Festival, taking place at Michigan International Speedway this weekend (June 26-27).  With the exception of the Wine Festival, no reservations or tickets are needed.  Learn more at www.progressiveautoxprize.org.

 

Sportsmanship at Knockout

Today was the first day of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Knockout event – the first event in which vehicles may be eliminated if their on-track performance doesn’t meet certain thresholds.  

As described in an earlier blog post, you can follow the Knockout event in real time here, thanks to a sophisticated combination data acquisition hardware, telemetry, and web programming. 

As you might guess, it’s non-trivial to get the Data Acquisition System working on any particular vehicle.   Today, Team Tango encountered trouble in doing so and might have had to withdraw.   But in a great display of sportsmanship, engineers from Team Li-Ion Motors pitched in to get the system working on Team Tango’s vehicle.   Bravo to all!  

This is the Li-Ion Motors vehicle at a recharging station:

This is the Tango in the inspection garage:

And here’s a picture of one of Li-Ion’s engineers working on the Tango:

Finally, here are a few more pictures from today:

Congratulations to EDV Technologies, DASH+ Winner!

After tallying more than 10,000 online votes that were cast from all 50 states, EDV Technologies from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, CA, has been named the DASH+ Grand Prize winner!

EDV (El Diseño Verde) team members Jack Moghtader, Nikhil Shinday and Kelvin Noronha, with mentor Kevin Schantz, created a dashboard concept that continuously calculates maximum fuel economy. The dashboard alerts the driver of environmental impact and awards GreenPoints for eco-friendly driving.

 

You can see the team’s winning dashboard design, technical plan and pitch video at www.fuelourfuturenow.com/contest.

The team learned of their win today on live television during KEY News This Morning, a Santa Barbara morning show. Afterwards, they enjoyed a celebratory breakfast with Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider and Goleta Mayor Eric Onnen, as well as their high school principal Mark Swanitz and a representative from the Santa Barbara School District.

In July, EDV will head to Detroit for an exciting VIP experience where they will pitch their ideas to automotive industry representatives, see environmental professionals at work, learn more about college opportunities and meet competing teams in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE.

I’d also like to extend congratulations to our semi-finalist teams: DASH Tech of the Henry Ford Academy in Dearborn, MI, and Harker Innovation of the Harker School in San Jose, CA. These teams are an inspiration and proof that our nation’s students will pave the way for innovation and drive change across industries. Thank you to everyone that helped drive change today with the DASH+ teams.

--Mitch Aiken, Director of Education, Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE

Introducing The Competition Tracker

It's no secret that there are a lot of things to keep track of with this PRIZE. How many cars? Where were they from again? What fuel was that? Are they even still in the competition?

Lucky for you, we're going to make it easy and fun to see which cars are making the cut on which teams, and who is that much closer to winning our 10 million dollar prize. Soon you'll be seeing our Competition Tracker - your new best friend. With just a few clicks you can get a map of where all of our teams are from, live telemetry data from the cars themselves, and a clear visual graph of exactly where each car stands in the competition.

Want to see more? Here's some sneak preview screens of what the site will look like.

An Interactive World Map

Telemetry Data - To Be Updated In Real Time

Track Your Favorite Teams or Hit The Leader board

The next time someone asks you how the competition is going, you can smile and act like a genius - no more scratching your head in despair.

Look for the Competition Tracker at the Knockout Stage - and as soon as the races heat up make sure to log on and join the race to the finish!