i3 - September/October 2016 - 10

Tech
LOCAL
MOTORS
AT NATIONAL
HARBOR

How are consumers
reacting to the cars?

What about Uber and Google
- do they want to work with you?
That is a touchy question. Google thinks
of us as a startup. Believe it or not, some
think that Henry Ford has the only way
to produce vehicles. They will want to
introduce and integrate technology as
soon as the companies hear about it.
We have changed that radically mainly
because of Kickstarter and Tesla. People
are frightened. Mark Fields announced
that Ford would have its first autonomous vehicle in 2021, but they do not
have a model to show. They are not a
rapid development company. But we do
work with IBM, Siemens and GE. We
are working on cognitive computing
with IBM.

Will augmented reality or
robotics play a role in design?
We are structuring unstructured data
with AI. We want to make the consumer's experience delightful, not
make a mistake twice. With data, the
system knows that it is going to rain in
30 minutes or that you are late to work.
A cognitive vehicle knows you had a bad
day and can suggest ways to improve
it. With AR, everyone has a cell phone
with a processor inside. With open
development, even kids with a camera
on their smartphone can be co-creators.
Co-creating can be simple to complex.
A smartphone is the most ubiquitous
device and features recognition.

Can you talk about the
National Harbor store?
We want to have micro-factories everywhere around the world to enable better
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

co-creation, particularly in capital cities.
Washington, of course, is important
because it is where policy is done. We
can use the store to show autonomous
vehicles, electrification, etc. But the
store is not quite as big as a microfactory. It is more of a sales and demo
facility. The full micro-facility will
be in Maryland.

In January 2015, Local Motors
opened its 45,000-squarefoot facility at National Harbor
in Washington, D.C., as the
first location in the world to
print, refine and assemble a
fleet of 3D-printed road-ready
cars. The company uses a
proprietary three-phased
manufacturing process to 3D
print its cars including The
Strati. The facility includes
a 20,000-square-foot lab, a
15,000-square-foot showroom and retail store and a
10,000-square-foot "build
floor," where assembly takes
place. By combining retail,
education, technology and
entertainment in a single
location, the community can
participate in social production through idea sharing,
events, exhibitions and tours.
"Local Motors is changing the
way you experience motor
vehicles," says Jay Rogers,
Local Motors CEO and cofounder. "From design to build
to purchase to service, our
micro-factories are a central
hub for engaging both online
and physical communities,
advancing technology and
creating a first-of-its-kind
experiential retail concept."

Consumers help us in the process.
We hear, "You should change this"
or "I want one now". The feedback
helps the company. Consumers are
eager to share their opinions about what
they want. We have the most engaged
consumers in the world. First we had
self-driving shuttles and we learned a
lot from them. We want consumers to
be delighted with a great product, it is
a meaningful thing. We have learned to
be good listeners. We are more prepared
because of that.

Will this encourage U.S.
manufacturing?
I don't think it will bring manufacturing back to the U.S. but it will make
companies more competitive from a
manufacturing perspective.

Are you experimenting with other
technologies like drones?
We just wrapped up a drone challenge
that we collaborated with Airbus on. We
are building a prototype of the winning
design at our Las Vegas facility now. The
main use for this design is humanitarian
aid delivery.

What will Local Motors look
like in five years?
We do not want to be a mass market
manufacturer. We want to be a low
volume manufacturer, multiplied a
hundred times over for all different
vehicles. We want to build more microfactories. Local Motors will be the IKEA
of the industrial world and the Willy
Wonka for cars. We want people to
delight in driving, B-G, B-B, and B-C.
And because of that, we will have fewer
accidents and more subscriptions.
n
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF LOCAL MOTORS

The Strati. But we also have done
military vehicles, The Verrado Drift
three-wheel Trike, The Racer Motorcycle
and The Cruiser Bicycle. These all show
proof of concept. The Strati will have
limited production. We have Olli,
our latest vehicle that is a self-driving
electric shuttle equipped with IBM
Watson IoT. We'll have them
in May. They are the fastest
to production. It is exciting to
introduce Olli. It has 30 sensors
integrated in the vehicle.
i3 - September/October 2016

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