Get your legislators to create regulatory exemptions for vehicles that are sold in small annual volumes.
Right now, it costs about $250 million to bring a new vehicle through all the safety and other regulatory requirements and $1 billion to build the factory that can produce such vehicles in volume. Is it any wonder that there is so little innovation happening in the automotive industry?
I know that the UK has such an exemption, and I think that the rest of Europe does too. If we want innovation in vehicles we need to be able to experiment, adapt, iterate and evolve.
Right now, that just can’t happen. Metro-Detroit and Michigan is filled with willing and experienced innovators whose hands are tied by regulation. We need to open that up!
[Editor's note: To help launch Xconomy Detroit, we've queried our network of Xconomists and other innovation leaders around the country for their list of the most important things that entrepreneurs and innovators in Michigan can do to reinvigorate their regional economy.]
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