The goal: Build a car -- one that is commercially viable -- that gets a 100 miles to the gallon.

The reward: $10 million or more.

The contest: The X Prize race -- designed to spur on innovative thinking -- wants to make sure that the freeways of the future are full of safe, super-efficient cars.

You probably remember that it was the X Prize Foundation that prompted scientists to build the first reusable private spacecraft to leave the earth's atmosphere.

Now they're bringing the same incentives and attention to eco-friendly cars. Earlier this month, they announced the Automotive X Prize to boost the mainstreaming cars, perhaps hybrids that run on diesel, ethanol, electricity, hydrogen, or any kind of clean fuel. According to USA Today, some think the Foundation should set the bar even higher than 100 mpg. (Imagine, a car that requires no fuel at all.)

The contest hinges on the idea that huge companies discourage failure and take tiny, incremental risks -- which is why we still have cars that use fossil fuels and get 20 mpg. The prize, however, allows individuals and teams to let their creative vision loose and push the boundaries of conventional thinking.

Let's hope that innovators around the world won't be able to resist the challenge -- or the cash. Detroit may not have made huge advancements to date, but the Foundation estimates that the prize will find a repicient as soon as 2009.

The best part? The Foundation isn't interested in pipe dreams or pie-in-the-sky thinking. The winner will be the group that finds a way to ensure that the cars can be feasibly produced and sold.

My guess is that a lot of independent teams who currently work in the auto industry (and related fields) will participate. And the giant carmakers in Detriot and around the world will certainly watch and track the ideas that emerge.

Meanwhile, the winners get $25 million and a chance to save the planet. Boy, it almost makes me wish I'd majored in physics or engineering.