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By:Rozita Tavakolian

Introduction Initiator: Markus Merz, 1999 The first attempt to design an entire

automobiles using open source principles. a great community of car developers and

drivers Their primary goal:

Design and develop a car over the internet To answer people transportation needs Standardization in parts manufacturing to use

economies of scale. A radical change from the car industry

Warning! should not be confused with the OSCar

company: Known as “RiverSimpe”, By Hugo

Spowers develop a platform that facilitates the

development and commercialization of highly fuel efficient cars

LIFECar, a hydrogen fuel cell sports car Hyrban, a lightweight city car

Why OSCar Challenges of Market Before OSCar Decreasing development cycles Speed to market the necessary for reevaluation of traditional

methods of automobile manufacturing. the needs of target markets

reinventing car designs worldwide continuously

Why OSCar (Cont.) Primary initiatives of industry:

Centralization of car development.•Implement more integrative manufacturing processes like concurrent engineering.

Implementation of the computer aided design (CAD) methods

Why OSCar (Cont.) Primary initiatives of industry:

Increasing complexity and communication needed during development.

•coordination efforts between engineers, craftsmen and ….• (Virtual / In-house)

Problems:•Chose vertical integration and a firm-centric focus •Chose to rely on a small web of preferred suppliers, designers,..

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Idea of OSCar project Born during an Internet seminar in the

autumn of 1999. Wasn’t there a way to go a step further? How could one use the World Wide Web to

redefine the way autos were built and developed?

Appearance open source The design process had become one of the

most elaborate phases

Implementation Provide the infrastructure for the OSCar

project by Monocom’s operation writing a manifesto (view)

The first OSCar prototype should be developed within 36 months

Web site (http://www.theOSCarproject.org) The communication medium for the developers Forum, news server, e-whiteboard, … translated into the English language

Implementation (Cont.) DEFINING THE OSCar CAD PLATFORM Allowed individuals to participate In the design process using tools they were acquainted with.

Was industry standard enabled delivery of the final OSCar product to one of the major car manufacturers.

Implementation (Cont.) Initiating “OSCar Come Together”:

The OSCar should be a modular concept—different design versions;

should be easily interchangeable;

The OSCar should be a “world car” simple, cheap, reliable, easy to maintain and repair;

Implementation (Cont.) It should also be a high-tech tool—fun,

innovative, full of features you would not find in a commercially available car;

New, environmentally friendly engine types for example, fuel cell, hydrogen, or electricity.

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Developing Business Model Differentiation

1. Use of open source principals Using a concepts borrowed from computer manufacture

2. Definition of CAD platform

Developing Business Model Contributed car designers from all over

Germany (e.g., Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen,

Ford, and Opel, a subsidiary of GM). Companies sponsored and supported the

project, a lot of publicity for Monocom

OSCar had to prove its viability as a profitable

business for the long run?!

Challenges how capitalize on this?

Is there revenue of publishing & marketing of OSCar results

Could Monocom achieve for the car industry what Red Hat had accomplished in the computer world when it started to publish Linux?

Challenges (Cont.) Would anyone want the design?

compelling enough with its modular design and fuel-efficiency

met the current needs of an automobile manufacturer.

conduct crash tests led to proposals for low-carbon alternative

propulsion OScars

Developing Business Model (Cont.) An expanded OSCar line Partnerships and alliances

In early 2000, Ford Motor Company had formed a joint venture with the women’s community website iVillage (www.ivillage.com)

any one of automobile manufacturers could subsidize part of the OSCar project.

form business partnerships with consulting firms, marketing, organizations, suppliers.

Sources of Revenue Consulting and value-added customization

services. The largest potential revenue stream

From servicing and consulting revenues. Pricing such services?

19 The Open Source Car Project

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Excerpts from the OSCar Manifesto