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Local Motors Looks To Disrupt the Auto Industry With 3D-Printed Car Bodies
An anonymous reader writes: Local Motors solicits design ideas through crowdsourcing, allows anyone to use open source software to contribute ideas, and then 3D prints car bodies according to the chosen specs in a matter of days. To prove they mean business, Local Motors 3D-printed a car on the floor of the Detroit Auto Show last week. "It took 44 hours to print the Strati’s 212 layers. Once 3D printing is complete, the Strati moves to a Thermwood CNC router—a computer-controlled cutting machine that mills the finer details—before undergoing the final assembly process, which adds the drivetrain, electrical components, wiring, tires, gauges, and a showroom-ready paint job."
Here's another big difference from the current auto industry: "Customers can also bring their vehicles in at any time for hardware and software upgrades, or they can choose to melt their vehicle down and, for instance, add a seat. Because Local Motors uses a distributed manufacturing system to make only what is purchased, it doesn't stock inventory. Anyone can come into a Local Motors microfactory, use its design lab, and work on a vehicle project free of charge."
Here's another big difference from the current auto industry: "Customers can also bring their vehicles in at any time for hardware and software upgrades, or they can choose to melt their vehicle down and, for instance, add a seat. Because Local Motors uses a distributed manufacturing system to make only what is purchased, it doesn't stock inventory. Anyone can come into a Local Motors microfactory, use its design lab, and work on a vehicle project free of charge."
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rule...
Life is not for the lazy.
I agree completely... I don't know what percentage of time is spent engineering the safety of a car... and I know it's super cool and kitchey to "design your own car" and "3D print it" and stuff, but what happens when someone prints a car that is aerodynamically unstable at 80mph?
"My test drives were all fine... but once I decided to open it up on a country road, I lost control and hit a horse drawn carriage full of people."
There are reasons it takes millions and years to get a car roadworthy.
Also, who's gonna handle the recalls if you share your design with someone else?
Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
Custom built cars have only need to meet particular set of standards. If you can get the tag you are usually fine. Getting the tag in no way means NHTSA certified. It usually means you have particular things in your car. For example 2 break/head/color lights, particular types of breaks, wheels are covered, muffler if it is ICE, etc. You car could be a total disaster in a crash yet you can still drive it on the road.
There are particular safety things they do enforce (must have seat belts and possibly airbags these days). But as long as you can get it past the inspector you can drive it. Crashing is where the certification comes in. You do not necessarily have to crash them to make it legal on the road...
This also varies from state to state even city to city.