Olli driverless minibus project, which was very popular for a period, took its place in the dusty pages of history. The project, which was produced with 3D printing for the first time in 2016, attracted great attention at that time. However, Local Motors, which implemented the Olli autonomous minibus project, decided to go bankrupt.
3D Olli 2.0 autonomous minivan to hit the road this year
Olli, the driverless minibus project, which emerged in Maryland National Harbor in 2016, attracted great attention at that time. Each piece in the autonomously working project would be produced by 3D printing. Working on certain landing and embarkation points, the project had a hybrid engine in the early stages. Finally, the project, which switched to a completely electric motor with Olli 2.0 in 2020, came to an end in a surprise. Of course, the main reason for the end of the project is the bankruptcy of Local Motors, the owner of the project.
In fact, after the Olli 2.0 announcement in October 2020, there was no information about the project from Local Motors. As of now, no official statement has been made from the company. However, Chris Stoner, the company’s sales and customer relations officer, announced that the company will close as of January 14.
Olli was set to begin trial runs of the second version of its self-driving van project in Toronto last spring. However, the failure of these test drives to start is perhaps the proof that the first alarm bells are ringing for the company. Although there is no statement from the company at the moment, the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic in the world is likely to have an impact on this bankruptcy decision.
Olli was among the most exciting projects of recent years, with its body and basic parts produced with a 3D printer and its completely driverless structure. Olli, whose passenger transport videos became a trend for a while, became the center of attention especially with its cute design.
The project, which was the inspiration for driverless vehicle projects, started to lose its former popularity after companies such as Tesla turned to this market. In this sense, Local Motors, which made the project completely electric, could not compete with electric car giants such as Tesla, however.
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