Every industry seems to be in the midst of change these days and the automobile industry is no exception. A lot of attention has been focused on self-driving cars, and there are good reasons to be excited by the idea of autonomous vehicles, such as improved safety and convenience. But what about the cars themselves?
On the surface, it looks like cars haven’t really changed that much in decades. Fewer fins, for sure (unfortunately) and more safety features, like airbags and ABS brakes. But, the essentials – headlights, windscreens, dashboards and steering wheels, seat configurations – are mostly the same.
As the technology has rapidly evolved, however, I think 3D printing (or additive manufacturing as it’s sometimes called) will fundamentally change not just how cars are made and what they will look like, but also determine who will make and even own them.
But will 3D printed cars ever be mainstream? If we’re talking about producing millions of cars, there’s a lot more involved than just printing a few parts and bolting them together. I reached out to Avi Reichental, one of the most iconic figures in the 3D printing industry for an insider perspective. For 12 years, Reichental was CEO of 3D Systems, the largest publicly traded 3D printing company in the world. He’s now focused on mentoring startups through XponentialWorks, an advisory, venture investment and product development company focused on 3D printing, AI and robotics.
3D Printing in the Automaking Process
I knew 3D printing has been used in the automotive industry for many years but assumed that meant the prototyping of parts. I was very wrong. “Believe it or not,” said Reichental, “one of the first sources of extreme success was from giving printers to production workers on the factory assembly lines and manufacturing lines and letting them design and print their own production fixtures, jigs, and gauges. Savings from such simple actions as these can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per factory which is very significant.”
We’re also hearing a lot about metal 3D printing. I suggested that the opportunities must be limitless, and Reichental agreed. “Direct metal 3D printing is not only the hottest growth field in the last six or seven years, it’s actually going so well that there are now more 3D direct metal printers installed than all other 3D printers, so it has certainly taken the market by storm,” said Reichental. “This is because you can print final parts and products using engineered metals directly from ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. The utility is very broad based, the productivity levels are acceptable, and the return on investment is attractive.
“More importantly,” he continued, “for the automobile industry, it allows you to take advantage of new capabilities like generative design and topology optimization, which allows you to substantially lightweight parts and simplify assemblies into fewer parts resulting in further lightweighting.”
So What Will Cars of the Future Look Like?
Reichental also suggests that it’s not just how the car parts are being made that’s significant. With a whole new process comes the opportunity to significantly change the cars internal structures as well. This is where it gets really exciting to me. Metal 3D printing means customized cars at an unprecedented level. But Reichental thinks the change is much deeper than that. “In the next few years there will be a massive race to imagine the future of what a vehicle looks like,” he explains. “Will it be an electric vehicle? An autonomous EV? What will be the role of a vehicle? The proliferation of vehicle models will likely quadruple in this period while every player tries to differentiate.”
The End of the Industry as We Know It. (And I Feel Fine.)
And who’s going to be making cars? If mass production is no longer necessary, does that mean mom and pop car shops on every corner? “It’s very possible that we will have hundreds of car makers that will buy an autonomous kit from company B and will only deal with first-mile/last-mile, delivery service productivity space and will do all the adaptations,” suggested Reichental.
“We’ll get to a point where 3D printing will become the automotive factory in a box. Automotive companies will become much more self-sufficient. They will have shorter supply chain, simpler logistics, they will be able to have digital shaping and fabrication without the need for some of the expensive tools and limiting methods. Finally, we will see an era of what I call mass customization. By this I mean instead of a model in any color, automotive companies will instead be able to give you a truly personalized bespoke set of features in your vehicle. That’s another area that 3D printing will make possible.”
“This isn’t only limited to the hard tech part of it. We will also see a similar evolution with additive electronics of the 3D printing of circuit boards, sensors, and digital antennas. That branch of 3D printing is accelerating with the help of an Israeli company that I am involved with called Nano Dimension.”
Reichental explains: “What’s happening now is really a convergence of players and suppliers, and you can see how the combination of autonomous robotics, AI, 3D printing, and ubiquitous computing and sensing, is going to disrupt and reshape how we define mobility and the role of mobility, especially in a world that will be driven by EVs without steering wheels.
“This is going to redefine our relationships with cars. What is the role of a cabin in a vehicle that no longer requires driving? Is it a workplace? Is it a social space? Is it an entertainment space? A leisure space? Is it a service space?”
Who is going to be owning cars?
I love to drive. But if Reichental is correct, will people still be driving their own cars in a few years? I’m not so sure. “If there’s no longer a steering wheel in a car, chances are my granddaughter, who’s a year and a half now, will never need to drive,” said Reichental, “and if she doesn’t learn to drive, will she ever even own a car? So the ownership and utility model is part of the debate and competition here.”
If all of this sounds like something out of Star Trek, think again. 3D printing has already been used to produce an entire vehicle. In 2016, Honda and a Japanese 3D-printing startup called Kabuku designed and manufactured a small, electric vehicle called the Micro Commuter. Honda built the chassis and 3D-printing techniques were used to create the exterior panels and luggage space. However, this was done as a custom order for the Japanese company, Toshimaya. On the other hand, Shanghai-based Polymaker and X Electrical Vehicle, an Italian electric car startup, say they’re going to make a 3D printed car for the Chinese market this year.
Over the next few years, everything we know about cars and the auto industry may well change. Will Detroit still be motor city? Will cars become bespoke luxury items? Will they even be recognizable as cars? We’re going to find out sooner than most people think.
Published March 7, 2019 — 17:15 UTC