3-D Printed Cars

3-D Printed Cars 

By, Matthew Penkala

               General Motors has announced that it will be teaming up with AutoDesk to 3-D print parts for cars. Since General Motors has been working on making more electric cars they have teamed up with AutoDesk in an effort to make getting parts for their cars easier and cheaper. General Motors has used 3-D printing to make prototype parts for their cars before, but now they feel they can use it to make actual parts for their products. 

               Above is a video of how General Motors has used 3-D technology to create a new light seat design for the vehicles they make. Speaking about lightweight, the main purpose of General Motors teaming up with AutoDesk is them making an effort to produce more lightweight vehicles. They want to make their vehicles lighter in an effort to allow vehicles to travel further, using less gas. According to their studies, if they were to produce a car with 3-D printed parts it would be 20% stronger and 40% lighter. According to Scott Reese, AutoDesk Senior Vice President for Manufacturing and Construction Products, "GM engineers will be able to explore hundreds of ready-to-be-manufactured, high-performance design options faster than they were able to validate a single design the old way.” General Motors also believes that 3-D printed parts could be in use for racing sports within a year.