Jun 16, 2016 | By Benedict
Local Motors’ stunning new 3D printed vehicle may be powered by IBM Watson, but its design is far from ‘Olli’-mentary: the autonomous shuttle bus, which has just hit the roads of Washington DC, is the first vehicle to use IBM Watson’s Internet of Things (IoT) for Automotive, a car-focused cognitive learning platform.
Olli, a 3D printed shuttle which can carry up to 12 passengers, was unveiled this morning at the grand opening of a new Local Motors facility in National Harbor, MD. During the ceremony, the vehicle was used to transport its own designer, Edgar Sarmiento, as well as Local Motors CEO and co-founder John B. Rogers, Jr., from the Local Motors co-creation community to the new facility. Starting today, the shuttle will be used on public roads in DC, and will make its way to Miami-Dade County and Las Vegas in late 2016.
“Olli offers a smart, safe and sustainable transportation solution that is long overdue,” Rogers said. “Olli with Watson acts as our entry into the world of self-driving vehicles, something we've been quietly working on with our co-creative community for the past year. We are now ready to accelerate the adoption of this technology and apply it to nearly every vehicle in our current portfolio and those in the very near future. I'm thrilled to see what our open community will do with the latest in advanced vehicle technology.”
Under Olli’s 3D printed hood is some of the most advanced auto technology in the world, including IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) for Automotive, a cloud-based computing system which can analyze and learn from high volumes of transportation data collected through more than 30 sensors embedded throughout the vehicle. These sensors can be adjusted in accordance with passenger needs and local preferences, thanks to Local Motors’ open vehicle development process. Additionally, special Watson developer APIs (Speech to Text, Natural Language Classifier, Entity Extraction and Text to Speech) are being used to create a particularly unusual feature for the public transport vehicle.
As well as performing all of a bus driver’s navigational functions using Phoenix Wings autonomous driving technology, Olli is also designed to replicate a driver’s social abilities: passengers on board the 3D printed bus will be able to ask the vehicle questions and discuss topics such as how the vehicle works, where they are going, and why the vehicle is making specific driving decisions in certain situations. IBM Watson empowers Olli with the ability to naturally respond to such questions, as well as the nous to offer local recommendations such as popular restaurants and tourist attractions. It is hoped that this conversational feature will put passengers at ease during the journey, should they momentarily remember that they are on a road with no driver.
“Cognitive computing provides incredible opportunities to create unparalleled, customized experiences for customers, taking advantage of the massive amounts of streaming data from all devices connected to the Internet of Things, including an automobile's myriad sensors and systems,” said Harriet Green, General Manager, IBM Watson Internet of Things, Commerce & Education. “IBM is excited to work with Local Motors to infuse IBM Watson IoT cognitive computing capabilities into Olli, exploring the art of what's possible in a world of self-driving vehicles and providing a unique, personalized experience for every passenger while helping to revolutionize the future of transportation for years to come.”
Olli’s launch has sparked immediate interest in putting the Watson-powered vehicle on the road, with Miami-Dade County already looking into an autonomous vehicle pilot program: “Improving the sustainability of local transportation networks as part of a wider goal to create more vibrant, livable, sustainable cities within Miami-Dade County, and improve the quality of life for residents is our top priority,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. “We must do more to improve transit and mobility in our community and the deployment of autonomous vehicles is a big step in the right direction.”
Local Motors’ new National Harbor facility, where Olli earlier made its grand entrance, will serve as a public place for co-creation of new vehicle concepts—crowdsourcing being the bedrock upon which the company is built. The facility will be home to some of the company’s 3D printed cars, alongside a large-scale 3D printer and a special interactive experience showing what DC might look like in the future. Various STEM programs will also be held at the facility in order to educate the public on 3D printing and other new technologies.
The first iteration of Olli will remain at National Habor over the summer, where visitors will be able to interact with it at select times.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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looks like this one http://www.ligier.fr/ligier-group/ez10-vehicule-autonome-et-electrique-ligier.html
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