{"id":1643,"date":"2017-05-17T07:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T07:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2024-02-21T09:42:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T08:42:12","slug":"3d-printed-car-knoxville170520174","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-printed-car-knoxville170520174\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Motors creates the first 3D printed shuttle in Knoxville, Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Manufacturing company <strong>Local Motors<\/strong> is creating quite the buzz in the\u00a0additive manufacturing world, after successfully producing the first autonomous shuttle bus &#8216;Ollie&#8217; in their micro-factory located in Knoxville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 2016, Local Motors began manufacturing the world&#8217;s\u00a0first 3D printed car, the Strati, in one of their factories in National Harbor, Maryland. Soon after, their car hit the streets of Washington DC and began catching the eyes of the public, as well as the German railway company Deutsche Bahn, who is now planning on testing the self-driving shuttles throughout the rest of the year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1645\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-1-21.jpg\" alt=\"3d printed car knoxville\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-1-21.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-1-21-160x85.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-1-21-300x160.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Working out of\u00a0their micro-factory in Knoxville, they 3D printed their shuttle, which has a small cubic frame that is customizable to their customers wants and needs and is also eco-friendly, as it runs on electricity.<\/p><div class=\"dnati-inside-article-leaderboard\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"dnati-3844057813\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/app.swapcard.com\/login\/event\/additiv-defense-2026\/ticket\/VGlja2V0VHlwZV83MDM4MQ==\/page\/UmVnaXN0cmF0aW9uRm9ybV81NjE4Ng==\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"LB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/LB.gif\" alt=\"\"  width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cNow campuses and cities don\u2019t have to fit a generic shuttle to it, rather a new shuttle can be designed and printed to fit to it instead. This is completely revolutionary,\u201d explains Local Motors about their self-driving, 3D printed shuttle.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1646\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-2-16.jpg\" alt=\"3d printed car knoxville\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-2-16.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-2-16-160x85.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-2-16-300x160.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Local Motors has explained that their\u00a03D printing process will allow them\u00a0to reach higher levels of customization, with the shape and size being two characteristics that will change the most aspects according to the needs of their end customer; a configuration that should not pose too much of a problem. While the traditional manufacturing of a vehicle\u00a0requires years of engineering and tooling for a single make or model, which is subsequently produced on a massive scale, 3D printing has opened the doors to a tailored production that works on a smaller scale.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1647\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-3-3.png\" alt=\"3d printed car knoxville\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-3-3.png 620w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-3-3-300x160.png 300w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-3-3-160x85.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ollie is set to debut this Fall in Knoxville. The shuttle bus will be able to move without a driver thanks to its complex system of cameras and sensors. Local motors CEO Jon B. Roger Junior said last month \u201cTennessee is one of the first eight states to allow driverless cars on public roads. Knoxville is the town in which Local Motors 3D printed its first car. 3D printing unlocks vehicle makers of the future to adopt technologies of the future faster than ever before. Therefore, it is no surprise that Knoxville, Local Motors and Tennessee would see Olli on the road first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1648\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-3.png\" alt=\"3d printed car knoxville\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-3.png 620w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-3-300x160.png 300w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-3-160x85.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What do you think of this 3D printed, self-driving shuttle? Let us know in a comment below or on our Facebook and Twitter pages!<\/p>\n<div class=\"dnati-after-content\" id=\"dnati-259529905\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/amcoe.org\/event\/design-for-additive-manufacturing-design-at-elevation\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"DfAM course-850&#215;150\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-600x106.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-768x136.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-160x28.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manufacturing company Local Motors is creating quite the buzz in the\u00a0additive manufacturing world, after successfully producing the first autonomous shuttle bus &#8216;Ollie&#8217; in their micro-factory located in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2016, Local Motors began manufacturing the world&#8217;s\u00a0first 3D printed car,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6051,"featured_media":1652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[125,1,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-additive-manufacturing-automotive","category-news","category-transport"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1643"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1683,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions\/1683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}