How will the cars of the future look like? We can’t tell yet, but 60 teams have already lined up for the $10 million prized competition to create production-ready vehicles that get 100 miles per gallon or even more than that.

There are of course some other conditions in order to win the Automotive X Prize, how the competition has been called. “Imagine a world where super-efficient cars are desirable, affordable and everywhere… where gasoline no longer makes history, but is history…” is the idea behind this race.

The announcement of such a competition was made on March 20th at the New York International Auto Show by X Prize Chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis.

The goal is to create cars that are as efficient as they are safe, reliable, affordable, and most importantly, low on greenhouse emissions.

We are not only dependable on cars, but we also appreciate their complexity. Cars “are vital links to our jobs, our community, ourselves. For everything we love about them, cars are chained to the most severe global crises of our time: oil dependence and climate change,” the organizers stated on their Web site.

“To maximize national and international awareness of the X Prize, I am pleased to announce that New York will be the starting point for the Progressive Automotive X Prize race next year,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City of New York.

The teams will take part in several stage races across the country, and those who haven’t already entered the competition have time until mid-2008.