The Open Source Green Vehicle

Detroit's auto manufacturers are struggling, but innovation is alive and well in others regions. For example, there's another open source project to design a car , this one with a green perspective. (See our blog post of May 30, 2007.)

The Society for Sustainable Mobility has launched an Open Source Green Vehicle project with the goal of creating a crossover SUV for the American market that achieves at least 100 mpg.

The Society plans to compete for the Automotive X Prize:

The Automotive X PRIZE will invite teams from around the world to focus on a single goal: design, build, and sell super-efficient cars that people want to buy.

Why an Automotive X PRIZE?

• Because today's oil consumption is not sustainable - our current use of oil endangers our health, our economy, and the political and social stability of the world.
• Because 40% of world oil output fuels the automotive industry - and, in the U.S., 65% of oil consumption is in the transportation sector.
• Because automotive emissions contribute significantly to global climate change.
• Because there are no mainstream consumer choices for clean, super-efficient vehicles that meet market needs for price, size, capability, image, safety and performance.
• Because the automotive industry is stalled - legislation, regulation, labor issues, manufacturing costs, legacy costs, franchise laws, obsolete technology, consumer attitudes, and many other factors have combined to block breakthroughs.
• Because increases in engine efficiency have been "spent" on increased vehicle power, acceleration, and weight, rather than on increased fuel economy.
• Because we believe there is great opportunity for technological change.

Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter identified capitalism as a process of creative destruction, and these open-source car projects and new technology prizes are part of this process.

If you were CEO of Ford, or GM, would you put a team on winning the X Prize? Or would the potential embarrassment of losing outweigh the potential benefit of winning?

In the world of open source, a team of free-lancers from around the world could quite potentially out-design and out-engineer Detroit's best.

Creative destruction indeed!