Everyone loves a snazzy lookin’ car handle on a snazzy lookin’ car, right? Me, I prefer to command my car (or trained monkey) to open the door so I don’t have to put down my pipe and whiskey (it’s just apple juice, officer.) If you do, however, prefer to pull, push or yank on a door-opening device and have a deep, yearning desire to design one on the car of the future, the The Edison2 Challenge is just for you.
The Edison2 Challenge
The challenge is a joint competition between Local Motors and Edison2. In 2010, Edison2 won the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE with their Edison2 Very Light Car (VLC) concept and with it, $5 million they are using to further the development of the vehicle. They’re using a smidgen of the winnings as prize money for the winners of this competition. Here’s an overview of the challenge to give you an idea what’s involved.
The unifying them for Edison2 and Local Motors is Siemens Solid Edge software. Edison2 uses it in the design of the VLC and the Local Motors community has exclusive access to Solid Edge Design1 subscription version of the software. From Brad Jeager, VP of Engineering at Edison2,
“When they started using Design1, we were introduced to Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers and quickly realized the power of open source co-creation and how working together with a design competition could be mutually beneficial. Because we have taken our vehicles to the limit of what’s possible, most components from conventional vehicles don’t work on our car, which leads to difficult but engaging design problems. Tapping the power of the Forge Community and getting thousands of people to help solve these challenging design problems is an excellent way for us to find elegant solutions.”
Edison2 and Local Motors on EvD
We interviewed both Brad and Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors, on EngineerVsDesigner. You’ll want to check both of those out to learn more about each company and the people.
Listen to Brad Jaeger interview on EvD
Listen to Jay Rogers interview on EvD
