3D printers are the next big wave in industrial design. Though some have their doubts about people setting up a printer in their home and ‘printing out’ everyday items, there’s no doubt that rapid prototyping will continue to make a designer’s life easier and speed time to production.
In the video above, Zac Nelson of Ford’s Vehicle Design Infotronics group, shows us how this technology was used in the creation of a new shift knob, which embeds electronics into the object to enable driver feedback and voice commands and the palm of the users hand, improving ergonomics.
Nelson also highlights how 3D printers are used for research and development of future products at Ford.
The advantages of 3D printing technology are clear to a number of automakers. We’ll bring you more on how the 3D printing is being used in vehicle design soon.
