Local Motors Rolls out a New Autonomous Fleet Challenge to the Pacific Northwest

July 10, 2019

William Kucinski

Local Motors by LM Industries Group, Inc. is launching a fleet challenge for its co-created, self-driving electric Olli shuttle in Washington and Oregon, asking “What would you do with a fleet of autonomous shuttles?” The company, which focuses on low-volume manufacturing – including 3D-printing – of open-source vehicle designs from distributed “microfactories,” is opening the challenge to cities, developers, businesses and other public or private organizations that want the opportunity to test a fleet of Olli for their desired use-case.

The Olli Fleet Challenge is part of an ongoing, first-of-its-kind global initiative where Local Motors has invited organizations to propose a short-term, local use for Olli. Local Motors has hosted several challenges since launching the initiative in late 2018 and has deployed Olli shuttles across several locations in California, at a military installation near Washington, D.C., and along a busy thoroughfare in Australia. Additional deployments are expected in the coming months in Southern California, in Atlanta and in Central Europe.

William Kucinski is content editor at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group in Warrendale, Pa. Previously, he worked as a writer at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was responsible for writing the agency’s System Failure Case Studies. His interests include literally anything that has to do with space, past and present military aircraft, and propulsion technology.

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