Hackers Wanted: Santa Monica-Based Company Looking for Shopping Innovations

Edmunds.com, the self-proclaimed premier resource for car shopping and automotive information, began accepting applications to its second annual Hackomotive event Tuesday. The event, which will be held at Edmunds.com's headquarters in Santa Monica on Feb. 25-27, 2014, will award $35,000 in cash prizes to the participants who present the best products and ideas that promote a better car shopping experience.

The 2014 event is open to companies, individuals and teams of individuals working to bring a new car shopping product or service to the market. Participants selected through the application process will come to Santa Monica for three days of inspiring talks, networking opportunities and brainstorming sessions to further develop their products or ideas. The participants will present their products or ideas in a Shark Tank-style format to a panel of judges, who will award a $20,000 grand prize to the first place winner, $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third place. Edmunds may also select a winning product or idea for acceleration.

The deadline to submit an application is Feb. 7, 2014. Companies, individuals and teams interested in learning more and applying to Hackomotive 2014 can visit hackomotive.com or follow @hackomotive on Twitter.

More than 120 consumers, dealers, automaker representatives, designers and technologists participated earlier this year in the inaugural Hackomotive, in which $28,000 was awarded to the creators of the top four ideas. The two grand prize-winning teams proposed social media sites that would help car buyers identify and work with salespeople whose expertise and specialties best fit their needs. More details on last year's winning prototypes click here.

— Edmunds.com press release