Local Motors continues to revamp its Olli 2.0 shuttle, which features a chassis made from 80 percent 3D printed parts. After receiving a $15 million infusion in fall 2020, the autonomous vehicle (AV) manufacturer has initiated a partnership with door2door for managing Olli shuttle fleets. It then placed a large order for electric motors for its 3D printed Ollis. Next, it began testing out Goodyear’s airless 3D printed tires. Local Motors’ latest partnership will bring the computer vision applications of alwaysAI to the autonomous shuttles.
alwaysAI will introduce some automated accessibility features and an improved passenger experience to Local Motors’ AVs. In turn, the vehicles will be able to serve a greater number of passengers, increase utilization, and enhance rider safety. The companies don’t specific exactly what this will look like in the real world, only saying that the deep learning computer vision software will offer “smarter and safer onboarding experiences, particularly for customers with unique assistance needs.” This includes veterans in Palo Alto, CA.
“Computer vision is a critical part of the new transportation industry. CV provides intelligent sight to autonomous vehicles, like the shuttles from Local Motors, and presents a significant opportunity to improve services and features as AVs spread across our communities,” said Marty Beard, co-founder & CEO of alwaysAI.
alwaysAI offers technology that streamlines the process of training AI for intended applications using simple APIs. In turn, developers can more quickly deploy computer vision for such uses as object detection, classification, tracking, counting and semantic segmentation.
In the case of Olli, we can imagine the shuttle being able to recognize wheelchairs and canes and respond appropriately, maybe notifying other riders to make space or automatically opening up a portion of the shuttle for wheelchair placement. We could imagine similar uses for pregnant people and caregivers with strollers.
Local Motors says that alwaysAI’s technology will also be used to “improve overall in-cabin experience and safety.” Perhaps this means that screens within the shuttle would turn on or engage with a rider when that rider looks at them. It could potentially count the number of passengers onboard, notifying door2door apps to forgo picking up any other passengers. So, we’re thinking of in-cabin AI, rather than the AI used to navigate streets, which is instead powered by Robotic Research’s AutoDrive.
“This partnership is critical to unlocking new value for our customers,” says Vikrant Aggarwal, President of Local Motors. “Our work with alwaysAI® is another example of Local Motors’ strategy to be open and integrate the best technology into Olli.”
From Local Motors’ progress, it seems as though the startup has made sufficient headway in terms of manufacturing, already having developed the ability to 3D print the chassis of its vehicles using Big Area Additive Manufacturing from Cincinnati Incorporated. Now, it’s working on establishing the proper artificial intelligence technology for its shuttles and creating a fully fleshed out experience for its riders.
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
You May Also Like
Pressing Refresh: What CEO Brad Kreger and Velo3D Have Learned About Running a 3D Printing Company
To whatever extent a business is successful thanks to specialization, businesses will nonetheless always be holistic entities. A company isn’t a bunch of compartments that all happen to share the...
Würth Additive Launches Digital Inventory Services Platform Driven by 3D Printing
Last week, at the Additive Manufacturing Users’ Group (AMUG) Conference in Chicago (March 10-14), Würth Additive Group (WAG) launched its new inventory management platform, Digital Inventory Services (DIS). WAG is...
Hypersonic Heats Up: CEO Joe Laurienti on the Success of Ursa Major’s 3D Printed Engine
“It’s only been about 24 hours now, so I’m still digesting it,” Joe Laurienti said. But even via Zoom, it was easy to notice that the CEO was satisfied. The...
Ricoh to Open 3D Printing Center of Excellence at North Carolina State University
Japanese 2D-to-3D printing firm Ricoh is further extending its activities in the additive manufacturing (AM) sector, this time partnering with North Carolina State University to establish a Center of Excellence....