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Local Motors

Local Motors was an American manufacturing company focused on low-volume production of open-source vehicles and other products using multiple microfactories. The company built a platform that combined online community co-creation with distributed digital manufacturing. It was co-founded in 2007 by John B. Rogers Jr. and had headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. It produced the Rally Fighter (claimed to be the world’s first open-source car[4]), the Strati (a 3D-printed car[5]) and Olli (a 3D-printed, electric-powered, self-driving minibus[6]).

Local Motors
Company typePrivate
IndustryManufacturing
Founded2007; 17 years ago (2007)
DefunctJanuary 14, 2022; 2 years ago (2022-01-14)
HeadquartersPhoenix, Arizona
Key people
John B. Rogers Jr.,[1] Justin Fishkin,[2] Vikrant Aggarwal[3]


Platform (Co-creation + Microfactories)

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Co-creation was a technique employed by Local Motors to accelerate new product development and commercialization.[7][8] Co-creation involves brands collaborating with customers to enhance products and services. Local Motors revolutionized this process through a web-based platform hosting design challenges and engineering hackathons. They partnered with companies such as Siemens to offer professional design tools like CAD to the community at affordable prices.[9]

In addition to cocreating its own proprietary products, Local Motors partnered with select organizations to facilitate co-creation of their products, including Airbus,[10] GE,[11] BMW,[12] IBM,[13] Goodyear,[14] Reebok,[15] Peterbilt,[16] DARPA,[17] Shell,[18] US Army,[19] ARPA-E,[20] and Domino's.[21]

Local Motors' achievements in swiftly and affordably developing and bringing products to market drew interest from partners in neighboring industries eager to employ its crowdsourcing and advanced manufacturing techniques. Among these partners were companies like Airbus[22] and GE,[23] who, in turn, became significant investors in Local Motors.[24][25][26]

The company’s innovative business model has been referenced widely in academia, featured in hundreds of media outlets, and is the subject of a Harvard Business School (HBS) case study.[27] Fast Company twice included Local Motors on its list of the world’s most innovative companies.[28] The company holds three Guinness World Records[29][30][31] and won two Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards.[32][33]

Rally Fighter

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The Rally Fighter was introduced in 2009, as the first car to be developed using co-creation design. The exterior design was submitted by Sangho Kim and selected through community votes.

Strati

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Strati (automobile) by Local Motors
Main article: Strati (automobile)

In collaboration with Cincinnati Incorporated and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Local Motors manufactured Strati, the world's first 3D printed electric car.[34] The printing took 44 hours to complete, and was witnessed by a live audience at the 2014 International Manufacturing Technology Show in McCormick Place, Chicago.[35] The car consists of 50 individual parts, far less than a traditional vehicle (which is manufactured with roughly 30,000 parts).[36] The Strati was designed by Michele Anoè,[37] a member of the Local Motors community, and is produced in small quantities to serve strategic partnerships, such as with NXP Semiconductors.[38] Strati gained widespread recognition and numerous accolades, including an SXSW Innovation Award,[39] a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award,[40] and a Guinness World Record.[41]

LM3D Swim

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In 2015, the company debuted a 3D-printed car named the LM3D Swim.[42] It was designed by Kevin Lo, a member of the Local Motors community.[43] The materials used are 80 percent ABS plastic and 20 percent carbon fiber. The vehicle uses technology provided by IBM that offered IoT connectivity.[44] The Swim is currently on display at the company's location in National Harbor, Maryland.

Olli

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Olli

In 2016, the company unveiled an autonomous, electric-powered bus.[45][46] The vehicle was designed by Edgar Sarmiento, initially named the "Berlino" from the Urban Mobility Challenge: Berlin 2030. The French tech entrepreneurs Damien Declerq and Gunnar Graef have been instrumental in organizing the challenge in Berlin.[47] The vehicle was built by Local Motors and has IBM Watson technology installed to provide a personalized experience for riders. The vehicle was demonstrated live to their online audience on Facebook Live[48] at a media event in National Harbor. On January 2, 2018, Local Motors received a pledge of up to a $1 billion in financing and operational support to customers of Olli from Florida-based Elite Transportation Services (ETS) with additional funding of $20 million from Texas-based Xcelerate.[49]

Olli was manufactured in Knoxville, Tennessee using additive manufacturing techniques, including 3D Printing.[50] Traditional Steel-Tube chassis Olli vehicles were produced in Chandler, Arizona.

Miami-Dade County, the State of Nevada and the Danish Vesthimmerland Municipality expressed interest in using Olli on their roadways.[51][52][53] As of January 2020, Olli has been deployed at the United Nations ITCILO campus in Turin, Italy to provide transport shuttle to employees and guests within the campus.[54]

On December 17, 2021, an Olli bus operated by Durham Region Transit in Whitby, Ontario being driven in manual mode suddenly lost control and crashed into a tree. The attendant was critically injured and rushed to a trauma center in neighbouring Toronto.[55]

Another pilot, West Rouge Automated Shuttle program, was announced in spring 2021 by the Toronto Transit Commission from Rouge Hill GO Station, but the service was never started after the demise of Local Motors in 2022.[56]

Locations

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Local Motors had microfactories in Phoenix, Knoxville, Las Vegas, Louisville,[57] and Washington, DC.[58][59]

In February 2017, Local Motors closed its Las Vegas location.[60]

Closure

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Local Motors closed on 14 January 2022, with their closure announced by Chris Stoner, their former VP of sales and customer success.[61]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Local Motors: Designed by the Crowd, Built by the Customer". hbs.edu. Harvard Business School.
  2. ^ Buss, Dale. "Local Motors Executive Discusses 3D Printing and the Future of Manufacturing". chiefexecutive.net. Chief Executive.
  3. ^ "Local Motors continues growth as Vikrant Aggarwal becomes Chief Executive Officer".
  4. ^ Anderson, Chris. "In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits". wired.com. WIRED.
  5. ^ Dyer, Ezra. "The World's First 3D-Printed Car Is a Blast to Drive". Popular Mechanics. Popular Mechanics.
  6. ^ Selyukh, Alina. "A 24-Year-Old Designed A Self-Driving Minibus; Maker Built It In Weeks". npr.org. NPR.
  7. ^ Eggers, William D. "A billion to one - The crowd gets personal" (PDF). deloitte.com. Deloitte Review.
  8. ^ Muller, Joann. "Big Ideas, Small Scale: How GE Is Using The Wisdom Of Crowds To Design Better Appliances". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  9. ^ "Siemens PLM and Local Motors Form Partnership around Solid Edge and Crowdsourcing Design Approach". moldmakingtechnology.com. MoldMaking Technology.
  10. ^ "Look At These Wild Drone Concepts Airbus Thinks Are The Future". 14 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  11. ^ "GE, LOCAL MOTORS PARTNER TO PIONEER NEW MODEL FOR MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY". pressroom.geappliances.com/. GE.
  12. ^ "BMW Group and Local Motors team up to identify the future of class-leading functions for premium vehicles in an urban environment". bmwgroup.com. BMW Group.
  13. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. "IBM's Watson makes a move into self-driving cars with Olli, a minibus from Local Motors". techcrunch.com. TechCrunch.
  14. ^ "https://news.goodyear.com/goodyear-local-motors-join-forces-on-autonomous-shuttles#:~:text=Goodyear%2C%20Local%20Motors%20Join%20Forces%20on%20Autonomous%20Shuttles". goodyear.com. Goodyear. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  15. ^ Richard, Brandon. "Winner Announced for Reebok x Local Motors Rally Fighter ZigTech Design Contest". complex.com. Complex.
  16. ^ Newcomb, Doug. "Peterbilt Crowdsourcing Future Big-Rig Designs". wired.com. Wired.
  17. ^ Osha Gray, Davidson. "The First Crowd-Sourced Military Vehicle is Unwrapped". frobes.com. Forbes.
  18. ^ "Shell GameChanger and Local Motors Announce Grand Prize Winner of D.R.I.V.E.N., a Competition to Design for Future Mobility". www.prnewswire.com/. Shell.
  19. ^ "REF Rapid Equipping Force - United States Army". www.ref.army.mil. Archived from the original on 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  20. ^ "ARPA-E LITECAR Challenge Unveils the Future of Lightweight Vehicle Design". arpa-e.energy.gov. Advanced Research Projects Agency - U.S. Department of Energy.
  21. ^ Buss, Dale. "Domino's Gets Into the Car Business With DXP Pizza-Delivery Vehicle". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  22. ^ McGee, Patrick. "Airbus signs deal to 3D-print drones and self-driving cars". ft.com. Financial Times.
  23. ^ "GE and Local Motors announce Fuse, a new business model for agile manufacturing". ge.com. GE.
  24. ^ Gilbert, Katie. "Airbus Ventures Takes Off by Going Local". institutionalinvestor.com. Institutional Investor.
  25. ^ Gage, Deborah. "Airbus Ventures Invests in Local Motors to Shake Up Aerospace Industry". wsj.com. Wall Street Journal.
  26. ^ Shieber, Jonathan. "Venture investments in new manufacturing technologies could reshape American industry". techcrunch.com. TechCrunch.
  27. ^ Norton, Michael I. "Local Motors: Designed by the Crowd, Built by the Customer". hbs.edu. Harvard Business School.
  28. ^ "Most Innovative Companies 2016". fastcompany.com. Fast Company.
  29. ^ "First Crowdsourced Car Design". guinnessworldrecords.com. Guinness World Records.
  30. ^ "First crowdsourced military vehicle". guinnessworldrecords.com. Guinness World Records.
  31. ^ "First 3D-printed car". guinnessworldrecords.com. Guinness World Records.
  32. ^ Dyer, Ezra. "2014 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards". popularmechanics.com. Popular Mechanics.
  33. ^ "The 2016 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards". popularmechanics.com. Popular Mechanics.
  34. ^ Gastelu, Gary (3 July 2014). "Local Motors 3D-printed car could lead an American manufacturing revolution". Fox News. Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  35. ^ Franklin, Dallas (15 September 2014). "Made in Chicago: World's First 3D Printed Electric Car". KFOR-TV. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  36. ^ Chhabra, Esha (December 30, 2015). "The 3D Printed Car That Could Transform The Auto Industry: On Sale In 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  37. ^ "The 3D-Printed Car Is All the Buzz". www.imts.com. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  38. ^ "Local Motors, NXP unveil 3D-printed car with self-driving, IoT technology | Local Motors". 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  39. ^ "SXSW 2015 Interactive Innovation Award Winners Unveiled" (PDF). sxsw.com. SXSW Interactive.
  40. ^ "The 3D-Printed Car". popularmechanics.com. Popular Mechanics.
  41. ^ "First 3D-printed car". guinnessworldrecords.com. Guinness World Records.
  42. ^ Bruce, Chris (November 6, 2015). "The LM3D Swim from Local Motors is the first 3D-printed car you can buy [w/video]". Autoblog. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
  43. ^ "Startup Plans to Begin Selling First 3D-Printed Cars Next Year". NBC News. June 23, 2015. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
  44. ^ "Connecting the road with Octoblu, IBM and Local Motors". Archived from the original on 2016-06-23.
  45. ^ Warren, Tamara (2016-06-16). "This autonomous, 3D-printed bus starts giving rides in Washington, DC today". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  46. ^ Counts, Reese. "The Local Motors Olli is a driverless EV minibus with IBM Watson inside". Autoblog. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  47. ^ "Berlino 3.0 - Smart mini bus system | Local Motors". 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  48. ^ "Local Motors - Timeline | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  49. ^ "Local Motors Secures Over $1 Billion In Financing For Olli Customers (Press Release)". PR Newswire. January 2, 2018. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
  50. ^ "Building Olli: Why "Second-degree DDM" is critical to the process | Local Motors". 2016-06-24. Archived from the original on 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  51. ^ "Local Motors unveils Olli, its new self-driving car, in National Harbor (Video)". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  52. ^ "Self-driving minibus to hit streets in Las Vegas". 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  53. ^ Sebastian Stryhn Kjeldtoft (2016-07-27). "Førerløse busser skal spare tid og penge" (in Danish). Information.
  54. ^ Autonomous shuttle Olli deployed in Turin, Italy JAN 17, 2020
  55. ^ "Whitby autonomous bus in manual mode when it crashed, driver seriously injured: police".
  56. ^ "Self-driving shuttle pilot project ends without giving a single ride". 28 January 2022.
  57. ^ "Innovation Acceleration: GE Appliances Selects Louisville for For First Micro-factory". geappliances.com. GE Appliances.
  58. ^ O'Connell, Jonathan (Jan 12 2015). "National Harbor to open 3-D car printing factory and showroom". The Washington Post. The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 January 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  59. ^ Holowaty Krales, Amelia (Jun 17, 2016). "Inside the Local Motors lab where 3D-printed autonomous buses are made". theverge.com. The Verge.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  60. ^ Ringle, Hayley (Feb 1, 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: Local Motors lays off employees, shifts gears to autonomous vehicles and white-label software". The Business Journals (Phoenix Business Journal).
  61. ^ Bellan, Rebecca (Jan 14, 2022). "Local Motors, the startup behind the Olli autonomous shuttle, has shut down". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
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