China car startup dodges Trump tariffs with AI and 3D printing

mikkei asian review ^ | Sept 27 | coc liu

[mrsmith]

Just gonna link.

Fascinating if you're into AI, manufacturing, trade, future...

[mrsmith]

As above. Highly recommend!

[mrsmith]

I oughta at least say they send 3D printing instructions for making their product.

[Viking2002]

Is it a fold-out printed in English, Spanish, French, and Chinese?

[mrsmith]

LOL!
LOVE those China manuals...

Lots of food for thought in the article, on many levels.

[mrsmith]

Actually it was a SK company’s manuals I’m thinking of.
For servomotors.
The English made little sense, the pictures of a amiling/frowning woman helped though...

Again, the article is a great read on many levels and subjects.

[Zhang Fei]

Highly-intriguing, although whether the steak matches the sizzle is yet to be determined.

[mrsmith]

Mot so true in this case.
It comes down to “can a factory be controlled over the internet”?
And, yes, it can.

Remember my first encounter with this idea:
Had a machine that we couldn’t examine. had to be investigated by a foireign company over the internet.
As the maintenance manager that was infuriating.

But it can work.

[Bommer]

Can't wait to drive the red one.

[Zhang Fei]

[It comes down to “can a factory be controlled over the internet”?]

---

For prototyping, it seems like a wonderful idea. The problem is that getting something that merely looks like the final product is not the end of the story. An engine block needs to be able to withstand the forces and temperatures of internal combustion. Can a 3D-printed engine do this?

[gogeo]

The UAW isn’t gonna like this.

[null and void]

3-D Printer Ping!

Political power grows out of the nozzle of a 3-D Printer.

Interesting article, worth the click.

[Bommer]

Least of it’s problems. The car safety standards in a collision have to be passed. I doubt that’s been factored in the printer.

[mrsmith]

Believe me, I appreciate that.
It couldn’t be done 10 years ago when I first encountered the idea. But T believe it can now.

And what does it all mean?

[isthisnickcool]

Much of the whole automobile manufacturing and distribution process is ripe for disruption. I especially hate the car dealer model. Way too much fat and way to much slime.

[MV=PY]

1. Machine Learning for car design
2. Translating parts specs into instructions for printing
3. Driving printers across borders for distributed manufacturing

Lot’s of cool ideas. Thanks for posting!

[mrsmith]

Thank you so much!
Lot of “future” here.
The title isn’t very helpful.

[gogeo]

I wonder if there’s a volume exemption on safety testing. I think the testing consumes quite a few vehicles.

[gogeo]

Excellent point. The industry has used the same business model for the past 100 years.

[mrsmith]

Thanks for the ping,
I’m a guy who usualy poo-poos AI (usally it’s just expert inpu0t” but this is fascinating.

[roadcat]

An engine block needs to be able to withstand the forces and temperatures of internal combustion. Can a 3D-printed engine do this?

Aren't some rocket engines being produced by 3D printing? If a rocket engine can withstand high temperatures, then so can an auto engine.

Decades ago, I had a car that had overheating problems. 20 years ago, I rebuilt the engine. I found that the engine block and cylinder head had lots of imperfections in the water jackets, and casting debris within. Same for the air intakes of the cylinder head. I carefully removed the casting debris and ground down imperfections. After assembling the engine it ran beautifully, very cool and with much more horsepower. Still runs great today.

3D printing is superior in many respects than traditional casting of engines. Pathways can be smoother and more efficient.