IBM and Local Motors have teamed up to develop the first self-driving bus. Local Motors has created the 3D printed parts and IBM has developed the system for the autonomous driving vehicle.
Olli is a 3D printed bus which can carry up to 12 passengers. The vehicle has already been used to transport its own designer, Edgar Sarmiento, as well as Local Motors CEO John B. Rogers.
Olli offers a smart, safe and sustainable transportation solution that is long overdue. 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.
The company did not state which parts of the bus were actually 3D printed. When you look at the already published pictures of Olli you can’t see any 3D printed parts at all. The hull looks very smooth so it doesn’t seem 3D printed. The highlight of the bus is the system for autonomous driving. IBM used a customised version of its IBM Watson Internet of Things system. The system uses different sensors to calculate everything and drive the bus. Some of the informations are also cloud computed and should help to give the busses a better efficiency.
Olli can be visited for now and should learn how to communicate with people. The vehicle will be able to talk about itself and describe how it was made and how it works.
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