Local Motors and Mouser Electronics Will Collaborate to Build a 3-D–Printed Autonomous Vehicle

With self-driving cars and electric vehicles topping news headlines on the daily, it’s clear that automotive innovation is at the forefront of an important national conversation. Very much playing in this space, open-source auto manufacturer Local Motors partnered with components distributor Mouser Electronics to revamp the Local Motors Strati—a vehicle made famous in 2014 as the world’s first 3-D–printed car. Their new crowd-sourced design, dubbed Fly-Mode, is a 3-D–printed autonomous car that features a highly connected interior, tricked out with a live camera and—as its name might suggest—remote-controlled drone access. The idea came from a competition held by the two firms, the Essence of Autonomy challenge, which invited designers to rethink the human experience in a self-driven car. Perhaps the most experimental of all the entries, Fly-Mode took home the competition’s top prize late last week.

With the new technology, a driver, not bogged down with the actual task of driving, is free to operate a drone on the exterior of the vehicle, whose live video footage is telecast in the car’s interior, imbuing the driver with the feeling of flying. Sound crazy? Well, the design will be reality relatively soon, as the prize includes a trip to Local’s Phoenix headquarters to help bring the concept to life. Finn Yonkers, a graduate of Pratt Institute with a degree in Industrial Design took top honors. No stranger to awards, Yonkers has won first place in several design competitions for both Airbus, and Local Motors.