Edmunds.com Finalizes Panel of Judges for Hackomotive Event This Month

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seven tech and automotive business leaders from across the country are confirmed as judges for Edmunds.com’s Hackomotive, a two-day event that aims to re-imagine the car shopping experience by bringing together consumers, dealers, manufacturers, designers and technologists to shatter the status quo. The event will be held at Edmunds.com’s Santa Monica, Calif. headquarters February 27-28, with a welcome reception on the evening of the 26th.

The judges slated to determine Hackomotive’s winning teams are:

• Michael Accavitti (@MikeAccavitti) –Vice President, Automobile Marketing, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
• Jeremy Anwyl (@JeremyAnwyl) – Vice Chairman, Edmunds.com
• Stacey Coopes – CEO, FordDirect
• Tamara Darvish (@TamaraDarvish) – Executive Vice President of DARCARS Automotive Group
• Joseph Essas (@jessas) – Chief Technology Officer, Opentable
• Carl Sewell – Chairman, Sewell Automotive Companies
• Michael Zimbalist (@zimbalist) – Vice President, Research & Development Operations, The New York Times Company

Full bios of Hackomotive’s judges can be found at http://www.hackomotive.com/judges.html.

Applications to participate in Hackomotive are available to anyone interested in changing the way cars are bought and sold. Participants will divide into teams that are drawn toward a particular car-buying “problem space,” and then develop a prototype to solve the problem. At the end of the second day, teams will present their prototypes to the judges, who will award the winning team $10,000 – with $5,000 and $3,000 cash prizes awarded to the two runners up.

Hackomotive marks Edmunds.com’s first hack event open to participants from outside the company. In previous internal Hack Days, Edmunds.com employees have successfully created real-world solutions for challenges regularly encountered by consumers, dealers and automakers. Many of Edmunds.com’s car-buying innovations are born through these events.

Only a few participant slots remain. Visit Hackomotive.com for more information.

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

At Edmunds.com, we’re committed to helping people find the car that meets their every need. Almost 18 million visitors use our research, shopping and buying tools every month to make an easy and informed decision on their next new or used car. Whether you’re at the dealership or on the go, we’re always by your side with our five-star Edmunds.com iPhone and iPad apps and our Edmunds.com Android App. Our comprehensive car reviews, shopping tips, photos, videos and feature stories offer a friendly and authentic approach to the automotive world. We’re based in Santa Monica, Calif., but you can connect with us from anywhere by following @Edmunds on Twitter or by becoming a fan of Edmunds.com on Facebook.