Physical Materials - Building Open Source Hardware - page 160

Automotive Industry
Tabby is a small open source hardware vehicle 12 made by an Italian company, OSVehicle
( Figure 10.5 ) . All of the assembly plans for the car are available to download online. Ac-
cording to the company, it can be assembled in less than an hour in a customer's garage for
less than 6000 euros. In the centralized community forum, customers can share improve-
ments and make modifications to the design, which facilitates crowd-sourced research and
development. This forum also serves as an online hub for communication and global col-
laboration.
12 . www.osvehicle.com/
(Source: Image CC-BY-SA osvehicle.com)
Figure 10.5 Tabby, an open source framework for designing and constructing vehicles.
Velocar 13 is a platform for an open source bicycle that has a protective shell to shield
the rider from the elements (i.e., rain, cold, and wind). It takes the form of a Velomobile,
which is a tricycle covered by an aeroshell. Velocar and Open Source Ecology have col-
laborated in this attempt to reinvent the bicycle and car by combining them into a sustain-
able and affordable platform that provides efficient human-powered transportation but
also protects the user from the elements.