Strati-First 3D Printed Car

Strati-First 3D Printed Car

Strati is the first of its kind Car from the 3D Printing Generation. It was debuted in the  2015 Detroit Auto Show (NAIAS-15) .It is a single piece body- 3D printed in a single machine. In crisp Strati is two seater which can go maximum of 25 Miles/Hr. Jay Rogers who is the behind the idea is the CEO of Local motors have plan to sell 3 of the same model. It took approx. 44 Hours to completely print the Chassis which may not look so aesthetic in today’s world but as technology matures the finish of the car could go up. Strati takes the Motor, Battery and suspension from Renault's Twizy which also a City Micro Car.

Strati from Local Motors

Strati is priced between 18000$ to 30000$ which is costly one comparing today’s Car Market but definitely it’s a Technology marvel.

UBEER 1 is another car which is technically first 3D Printed Car. Same used a set of 3D Printed parts and the same is integrated to form the full Chassis. Finish on the part is owing to the reason it was separately prepared and used different Rapid prototyping technology (3 D printing).

UBEER-1

Though 3D printing (Rapid Prototyping) is not a mainline manufacturing technique due the strength capabilities and other limitations , we will see the same used for Mass production owing to less time for part creation and customization possibilities.

Few companies like Koenigsegg has already using 3 D printed parts in the saleable cars as the volume is less and give freedom on customization. Seeing the current trend in another  3 years the 3D Printing  would be main stream mass manufacturing process in many Automobile OEM’s

Gogoro-The Tesla in Scooters.

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Gogoro claims that it is the first and only Smart Scooter. It is an Electric scooter with Out of the Box thoughts. Let’s see what is the package is about.

Gogoro is a well researched product and studied about the usage of scooters in the US cities (Mega cities).It came with reasoning that scooters are used for short commutation compared to Motorcycles. It uses a battery (Li Ion 18650) from Panasonic; exactly the one used by Tesla S. Battery Swap kiosk will be placed on the hot-spots and a customer can easily swap if he gets a battery Charge message. You need to find the nearest kiosk and swap the battery. Trials shows swapping of Battery are done within one minute compared to Tesla’s Battery swapping of six minutes. Mobile play vital role in communication through specific apps for the same.

Why is it smart?  Same is been answered! Total 30 Sensors in and out of the scooter which keeps tracking and report any issues if any part or function does not work. It has Bluetooth pairing capability with your Phones and tablets. Customization of both Head lamps and Tail amps; Tone modification for booting up and shutting down..It has filled a lot of features for the customer to feel fresh and new every time the ride is done.

Spec shows the speed as mph and acceleration 0-30 mph in 4 Seconds. Looks good in render and in the Proto as shown in CES. Cost is not mentioned and seems it will be similar to how Tesla has positioned. Gogoro has envisioned a lot about the product and have plan for swapping stations for the Batteries at many points in the City Hubs. Emission less Scooters will be the next big thing. Putting infrastructure is a big challenge for any Battery Operated Vehicle. Green Hopes!! that Gogoro will go for production.

Bla Bla Car- Will you Share Your Car?

Bla Bla Car  offers City to City ride sharing through its Apps/Website. France based company started its operation in India. Bla Bla Car is a hit in European Countries and is Looking India as its Next Market. It works similar to the Car Pool Scheme. See How the Scheme Works

1.                   Anybody wish to use the ride sharing should have a Facebook account with real Photo,Name etc and should have the Bla Bla Car App/Web access.

2.                 If you are driving the car for City to City ride ,You can post your Travel Info such as timing, Vehicle details, Timing ,expense etc. in the App/Web.

3.                 For anybody with criteria No 1 can search the travel time and seats available and can book the seats in the above said cars for agreed amount with the car Owner

4.                 After Travel both Person can give a star rating which will reflect in their account and further anybody can use it for reliability.

Pros :

i)                  Cost of Travel is Cheap.!!

ii)                Good companionship which makes travel enjoyable and engaged.

iii)    Able to travel in Premium Vehicles! -Well I traveled in AUDI’s and BMW’s

Cons :

i)                   Chances of Delay in Travel times.

ii)                 Travels can be canceled anytime by the Car Owner.

iii)             Cost of travel will only be comparable it have Train Routes.

Now the scheme is a huge hit in European Countries. I have travelled from Germany to France and Germany to Switzerland. The scheme found to be effective if you have no deadlines as some times the vehicle you can get cancelled or delayed. Same is very cost effective in countries like Germany as the Rail/Flight cost is very high which is different for India. I was able to travel in BMW’s and Audi which is a common man’s car in Germany J. I don’t think same will work in India. Whatever Welcome Bla Bla Car to Incredible India. 

SKULLY AR-1 WORLD'S SMARTEST MOTORCYCLE HELMET

World’s Smartest Motorcycle Helmet! That’s what Skully AR-1 Claims.  Looks Trendy and Stylish and fits for any type of Bikers

Skully AR-1 is an attempt to adopt the latest technologies found in the modern Automotive Technology to enhance the safety. It is sure that the biking is going to be more interesting with this gadget. Highlights of the Helmet’s first time in the Industry have been tweaked in the website as follows.

HEADS-UP DISPLAY (HUD)

HUD can display vehicle telemetry such as speed, gear, tachometer depending on the Bike communication protocol. The display shows a rear view camera feed with a near 180 degree viewing angle. It helps to avoid the normal Blind spot while doing the biking.Same has been positioned outside the primary view of the driver and is transparent (Slight change in view is required to see the side views.

GPS

The best package is in the GPS navigation which works without any assist device such as mobile or something. This feature will enhance for those who doing long touring and venturing of untraveled locations. If you are Looking for a trial the Helmet will be available b on May-June 2015.

REAR VIEW CAMERA

A Camera is provided on the rear similar to cars but provide a blind zone free view while driving. It will help a lot while overtaking and when you take turns. No information provided on abbreviation of AR- I guess something related to Artificial Intelligence could be the one. 

Bla Bla Car! Yes they are here. We will have the next blog on my travel experience in France & Germany on Bla Bla Car which recently started the India Operations.

Airbags in Helmet!! Does it works

Helmet with Airbag!!.
I just Googled the product and to my surprise yes it exits.Helmets with Airbag.But badly it is recommended for Cyclists as per the company says.

From the land of Safety & Volvo another company called Hovding has introduced a one of the best technology on the  Helmet safety. It could be one of the Out of the Box design challenging existing traditional helmets. Hövding started as a master’s thesis by the two founders Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, who, at the time, were studying Industrial Design at the University of Lund.

1.Safety Gear (Helmet)   2.  Helmet Activated 

It works similar to Airbags in Motorcycles and Cars.Though in real you will be wearing Jerkin extension,The air bag works as it detects a crash using pre-loaded Algorithm and surround the Head with a protective air Bag which is inflated using the Gas. Hovding also have option of adding a blackbox (*similar to one available in Aircraft's)which will record the Crash and same
will be used for detailed Crash Studies.

Seeing the demonstration from the website it clear that for Motorcycle speeds  60 MPH the same will not be effective and traditional helmets will continue do the job.

Demonstration of the Airbag Helmet in Stockholm

A major breakthrough  in Motorcycle Helmets is announced by SKULLY  calling it as the 'SMARTEST MOTORCYCLE HELMET in their SKULLY AR-1 Helmet. Will post more details on the same Soon.