Watch: Olli, a 3D-printed self-driving minibus that carries 12 and can be summoned with an app
Unveiled on Saturday, and the vehicle be offering rides at Local Motors' Washington-based National Harbour campus.
Print. Assemble. Drive.
No, don't drive. Because Olli drives itself.
Olli is one cheeky self-driven motor vehicle. In the video above, it? says, "I don't want to insult you but you humans aren't that great at this driving thing. You bump into each other. You clog the same routes at the same time. And you are overwhelming the earth with pollution."
Set to also be tested in Washington DC, Miami and Las Vegas and several other cities in the world, Olli is a collaboration between computer giant IBM and Local Motors, a maker of self-driving vehicles.
it's hard to say which fact is more interesting: that Olli is out there already as a self-driven vehicle, or that Olli is not manufactured in a plant but "printed out" on a 3D printer and then assembled.
Local Motors co-founder and chief executive John Rogers said, "We hope to be able to print this vehicle in about 10 hours and assemble it in another hour." While the technology has been available for some time now, Rogers also said that the challenge is having it comply with regulations and making it to specifications set by governments and other authorities. He also described the materials used as "lego plastic filled with carbon-fibre".
Olli, who is clearly high on attitude, says, "I am the first of the robots that are taking over...Kneel, at your new master." By way of comfort, she adds, "I jest."