2023/03/13
“What’s Next” Autonomous Trucking Comes to Market
Aon 3D; Locomation. (2023).
Objective, background and challenges
Locomation needed to manufacture short-run, large sensor housing prototypes, fast and affordably, to get their autonomous trucking solution to market.
Founded in 2018, time to market was of the essence. For Locomation, entering a heated and well-funded race for autonomous trucking meant their team of engineers and software developers would have to rapidly iterate and test their designs in real-world situations.
Only needing 4-6 sensor housings manufactured at a time, and measuring over 2ft in the Z-direction, injection molding would have run $50,000-$100,000 and months per iteration. In addition, their sensor housings needed to be high-strength, impact resistant, UV resistant, and able to withstand the heat of summer on the road.
Solution
3D printing full-scale ASA parts on the AON M2+ provided durable, heat resistant, and UV resistant road-worthy functional prototypes.