To reduce car crash rate, much research now is focused on safety and new fuels-though some electric vehicle and biofuel research aims at going faster.

This time, he focused on what he calls the single most risky demographic on the road? Teenage boys? Whose crash rate is twice that of the general population.

"There was this pressure from the market crash [and] looking at our burn rate and revenue - it was time for us to try something to scratch that itch," says a source close to early employees.