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Welcome to the Third Industrial Revolution

One  man  with  a  passion  for  cars  has  spent  a  quarter-­‐‑century  of  his  life  searching  for  a  way  to  follow  his  

dream.  A  graduate  of  the  Woodrow  Wilson  School  of  Public  and  International  Affairs  at  Princeton  

University,  and  Harvard’s  MBA  Business  School,  US  Marine  Corps  Commander  Jay  Rogers  always  

knew  that  he  wanted  to  build  cars.  From  China  to  Iraq,  Rogers  dabbled  in  many  different  industries  

and  sectors  until  he  founded  Local  Motors,  a  company  that  is  truly  passionate  about  co-­‐‑creation.  

Rogers  believes  his  company  is  allowing  the  innovators  of  today  to  create,  truly,  the  stuff  of  dreams.  

With  the  age  of  the  Internet  and  the  advent  of  the  era  of  3D  printing,  Local  Motors  has  been  able  to  do  

something  that  has  never  been  done  before  –  crowd  source  the  design  and  production  of  its  vehicles.      

Rogers  stressed  that  it  is  the  individual  people  and  small  companies  that  “stand  on  the  shoulders  of  

giants”  that  truly  make  this  venture  worthwhile.  The  people  who  have  contributed  to  Local  Motors’  

cars  simply:    

Share an ambition to solve a common problem

It  is  the  passion  for  learning  and  solving  problems  that  drives  this  company  forward.  Inquisitive  and  

ambitious  people  from  all  around  the  globe  can  go  online,  look  up  problems  and  attempt  to  solve  them.  

There  is  an  open  community,  and  with  creative  commons  licenses  and  an  idea-­‐‑sharing  platform,  Local  

Motors  stands  for  the  belief  that  a  great  community  can  build  a  great  product.  Rogers  stressed  

throughout  their  presentation  that  this  helped  the  vehicles  hit  the  market  faster,  with  less  capital,  and  

with  more  people.    

Through  sharing  data  over  the  internet,  Local  Motors  

has  the  same  mentality  as  do  the  Kelly  brothers  –  get  

to  your  fundamental  audience,  see  what  they  want,  

and  build  for  their  needs.  They  have  early  access  to  

customers  and  bring  in  regulators  early  to  get  ahead  

of  their  problems  before  they  can  start.  They  also  use  

a  concept  called  the  golden  hour.    

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The  golden  hour  is  a  concept  that  stresses  

investing  in  experts,  passionate  people,  and  

finding  people  who  are  right  for  the  job.  

Reaching  out  to  the  global  community,  very  

similarly  to  the  Necessity  of  Strangers,  

Rogers  explains  that  he  is  able  to  find  

solutions  faster  to  his  problems  using  

people  who  are  disaffiliated  from  the  company  rather  than  engineers  that  were  stumped  with  the  

problem.  In  fact,  Rogers  said  that  someone  actually  solved  a  huge  problem  that  he  was  having  in  the  

Rotunda  of  tables  set  up  before  the  event.  Every  opportunity  that  you  have  to  go  to  a  new  place  is  a  

chance  to  meet  new  people  who  can  help  you  to  solve  your  problems.  Rogers  has  a  wide  variety  of  

experiences,  from  serving  in  Iraq  to  working  in  a  factory  in  China  after  college  graduation.  He  uses  his  

extensive  network  to  expand  his  project  and  create  the  first  3D  printed  car,  Strati.  None  of  this  would  

have  been  possible  without  co-­‐‑collaboration  with  engineers,  regulators,  and  designers  from  the  around  

the  world.  Nor  would  the  project  have  succeeded  without  crowd  funding  –  no  venture  capitalists  

means  that  Local  Motors  can  answer  directly  to  its  customers,  and  end  up  creating  a  car  that  fits  their  

needs.  Rogers  stated  that  they  plan  to  mass  manufacture  customization  with  the  Strati,  meaning  that  

they  will  produce  many  small  batches  of  vehicles  that  have  been  specifically  customized  to  fit  a  distinct  

group  of  users.  This  is  feasible  due  to  the  nature  of  the  manufacturing  process  of  the  car  –  it  only  takes  

44  hours  to  construct  and  many  iterations  are  possible  through  slight  modifications  on  a  computer  

aided  manufacturing  or  CAM  program.  

Local  Motors  is  always  open  for  people  

to  come  and  observe  the  manufacturing  

process  as  well.  Rogers  describes  the  

micro  factories  as  festivals  of  sorts  –  

everyone  is  always  working  on  

something,  collaborating  with  others,  

and  excited  to  be  there.  This  imbues  

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passion  in  the  collaborators,  which  churns  out  ideas  faster  and  faster.  It’s  also  open  to  anyone  who  has  

heard  about  the  project,  which  means  that  brilliant  minds  from  all  over  the  world  are  able  to  contribute.  

Additionally,  the  materials  are  ecofriendly  and  much  cheaper,  so  the  cars  will  be  much  more  affordable  

in  the  future  when  they  go  on  sale  to  the  public.  This  will  generate  more  interest,  and  more  crowd  

funding  so  that  more  resources  can  be  devoted  to  both  this  project  and  future  projects.    

Rogers  hopes  that  there  will  soon  be  a  local  demonstration  facility,  and  another  micro  factory  located  

near  the  University  of  Maryland  so  that  Local  Motors  can  take  advantage  of  many  students’  minds,  

curiosity  and  passion  in  the  James  A.  Clark  School  of  Engineering.  Rogers  hopes  to  revolutionize  the  

car  industry  to  the  same  magnitude  that  Ford  has,  however  he  hopes  to  take  the  multitude  of  innovators  

of  today  and  make  them  the  heroes,  rather  than  one  innovator  claiming  fame  for  the  work  of  an  

assembly  line  of,  as  Rogers  says,  luddites.  

Check out my video: ter.ps/3xrevolution