Local Motors says it doesn’t just want to build vehicles, it’s aiming to “reinvent them.” This has led to their championing of “Microfactories” (as opposed to the massive ones used traditionally) and also of co-creation, whereby it expresses an interest in teaming up with “any and all people to help us solve the world’s most challenging problems.” To that end, Local Motors came together with Mouser Electronics to create the Essence of Autonomy Challenge, which invited participants to provide features for its next potential 3-D-printed self-driving car. (Note: Adam Kress, a spokesman for Local Motors, wanted to make clear that these are not yet autonomous vehicles “but rather a traditional driving car that will demonstrate a potential capability of autonomous cars.”)
The winner: FLY-MODE. Granted, 3-D-printed, potentially self-driving cars are already fairly futuristic, but this decidedly ups the degree of difficulty. As Inhabitat notes, it’s an “incredible design that marries a transforming cockpit and drone-launching technology with a car that needs no steering wheel.” (Though, again, it currently has one.)
To learn more about FLY-MODE and Local Motors, click here; or just watch former Mythbusters star Grant Imahara testing one out in the video below.
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