Olli is the 3D-printed, totally autonomous electric shuttle bus we’ve all been waiting for

By Luke Dormehl Published June 20, 2016

A 3D-printed, autonomous, electric, recyclable shuttle bus sounds like the kind of idea that would emerge during a tech startup brainstorming session if you wrote down every single buzzword anyone called out.

In fact, it’s a genuine product — dubbed “Olli” — created by Arizona-based automaker Local Motors and powered by IBM Watson’s cognitive learning car technology, IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) for Automotive. Packed with more than 30 sensors and capable of carrying up to 12 people, Olli is currently running on local public roads in Washington DC, and will expand to Miami-Dade County and Las Vegas later this year.

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“Olli offers a smart, safe and sustainable transportation solution that is long overdue,” says Local Motors CEO and co-founder John B. Rogers. “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.”

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local motors olli driverless bus nh — Image used with permission by copyright holder

local motors olli driverless bus at phoenix lm 2 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

local motors olli driverless bus rc8003 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

local motors olli driverless bus at phoenix lm 3 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

local motors olli driverless bus interior — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As exciting as the present is for Olli, it’s the future that holds the most promise for Local Motors. “We sincerely believe that Local Motors needs to be on the cutting-edge of any and every vehicle technology that’s out there,” Jacqueline Keidel, a spokeswoman for Local Motors tells Digital Trends. “By making vehicles in small batches and having micro factories around the world, we’re not only able to be an agile company that can introduce the latest technologies available, but also cater [our technologies] to specific regions and what those regions need.”

Because of Olli’s micro factories, Jacqueline says, the vehicles Local Motors produces can literally be tweaked and improved every time a new unit is put together. Even more impressively, it means that an Olli created for a sunny part of the U.S. could be made to rely on solar power, while an Olli built for a less sunny area could be powered by other electric vehicle technologies.

Suddenly public transport commutes to work just got a whole lot more exciting!

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I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…

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Star Wars legend Ian McDiarmid gets questions about the Emperor’s sex life

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Cars

Waymo and Toyota explore personally owned self-driving cars

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Waymo and Toyota have announced they’re exploring a strategic collaboration—and one of the most exciting possibilities on the table is bringing fully-automated driving technology to personally owned vehicles.
Alphabet-owned Waymo has made its name with its robotaxi service, the only one currently operating in the U.S. Its vehicles, including Jaguars and Hyundai Ioniq 5s, have logged tens of millions of autonomous miles on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.
But shifting to personally owned self-driving cars is a much more complex challenge.
While safety regulations are expected to loosen under the Trump administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has so far taken a cautious approach to the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles. General Motors-backed Cruise robotaxi was forced to suspend operations in 2023 following a fatal collision.
While the partnership with Toyota is still in the early stages, Waymo says it will initially study how to merge its autonomous systems with the Japanese automaker’s consumer vehicle platforms.
In a recent call with analysts, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai signaled that Waymo is seriously considering expanding beyond ride-hailing fleets and into personal ownership. While nothing is confirmed, the partnership with Toyota adds credibility—and manufacturing muscle—to that vision.
Toyota brings decades of safety innovation to the table, including its widely adopted Toyota Safety Sense technology. Through its software division, Woven by Toyota, the company is also pushing into next-generation vehicle platforms. With Waymo, Toyota is now also looking at how automation can evolve beyond assisted driving and into full autonomy for individual drivers.
This move also turns up the heat on Tesla, which has long promised fully self-driving vehicles for consumers. While Tesla continues to refine its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, it remains supervised and hasn’t yet delivered on full autonomy. CEO Elon Musk is promising to launch some of its first robotaxis in Austin in June.
When it comes to self-driving cars, Waymo and Tesla are taking very different roads. Tesla aims to deliver affordability and scale with its camera, AI-based software. Waymo, by contrast, uses a more expensive technology relying on pre-mapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar and lidar (a laser-light radar), that regulators have been quicker to trust.

Cars

Uber partners with May Mobility to bring thousands of autonomous vehicles to U.S. streets

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The self-driving race is shifting into high gear, and Uber just added more horsepower. In a new multi-year partnership, Uber and autonomous vehicle (AV) company May Mobility will begin rolling out driverless rides in Arlington, Texas by the end of 2025—with thousands more vehicles planned across the U.S. in the coming years.
Uber has already taken serious steps towards making autonomous ride-hailing a mainstream option. The company already works with Waymo, whose robotaxis are live in multiple cities, and now it’s welcoming May Mobility’s hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna vans to its platform. The vehicles will launch with safety drivers at first but are expected to go fully autonomous as deployments mature.
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This expansion into ride-hailing is part of a broader industry trend. Waymo, widely seen as the current AV frontrunner, continues scaling its service in cities like Phoenix and Austin. Tesla, meanwhile, is preparing to launch its first robotaxis in Austin this June, with a small fleet of Model Ys powered by its camera-based Full Self-Driving (FSD) system. While Tesla aims for affordability and scale, Waymo and May are focused on safety-first deployments using sensor-rich systems, including lidar—a tech stack regulators have so far favored.
Beyond ride-hailing, the idea of personally owned self-driving cars is also gaining traction. Waymo and Toyota recently announced they’re exploring how to bring full autonomy to private vehicles, a move that could eventually bring robotaxi tech right into your garage.
With big names like Uber, Tesla, Waymo, and now May Mobility in the mix, the ride-hailing industry is evolving fast—and the road ahead looks increasingly driver-optional.