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World's First Open-Source Car Introduced

news.windingroad.com — Winding Road Magazine reports that the world's first open-source car, the “c,mm,n” (say “common”), was just introduced at the AutoRAI car show in Amsterdam. The project is a product of the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment, better known as the “Stichting Natuur en Milieu,” along with a trio of universities.

Who dugg this? Made popular Mar 31, 2007

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  • zachblume, on 10/12/2007, -8/+38Good idea, ugly car.
  • Bob042, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25Yes, as long as you compile it yourself.
  • breakneckridge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Why does almost every open source project have to have a name that will make it harder for the masses to accept it?
  • pmuse, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19Isn't that the car Homer Simpson designed?
  • Abatrour, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Looks like they still need to work on their GUI...
  • Y0tsuya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Awww, c,mm,n...
  • Autosavant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Very interesting conceptually. The real cost in producing cars, however, is in materials and labor, with other things like meeting regulatory minimums, real-world testing engineering, etc. contributing to these main costs. Unlike, say, software, the hurdles to actually rolling a car off the assembly line and selling it are more daunting.

    I applaud the idea, though - more of a net positive than a negative.
  • snoonan77, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Is there a binary? I never have time to compile in the morning.
  • cyranthus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9it says open source... does that mean its free?
  • Renton, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9That's just the archetype. Of course it's going to be very basic.

    Add a few lightning bolt stickers and a flame decal and Bam! You're ready to go.
  • cinnix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9It's like a physical embodiment of Web 2.0. Curved corners, some reflection here and there, it's even dropping the vowels.
  • JamesWilson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Oh and linux and firefox were perfect when they started too.

    The power of open source is the community pushing the ever-growing snowballs.
  • starguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6open source electric motorbike
  • ElectricGrandpa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I have to admit, that is a TERRIBLE name for a car... Call it "common" if you want, but not C,MM,N... That'll just confuse people.
  • zachblume, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Imagine bureaucracy multiplied by everyone in the entire country.
  • arnaudh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The nice thing with open source projects is that if you think they're ugly, you're free to make them prettier. So go ahead. Or would you rather be whining?
  • jmzook, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That is the fugliest car I have ever seen.
  • Poco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Can anyone say "Airbus"?
  • mrebus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Making a Real world object open source really doesn't mean anything. Unless you have a factory to build the car it doesn't matter if you can look at the specs. Its not the design of the car that should matter its how well its made
  • JamesWilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3But there could be different vendors of the same car model who take up the costs and they get to take a larger chunk of the profit and spend less on development costs.
  • arepb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4This looks like it could get people to contribute their ideas from all over the world. I'd like to see GM develop a car like this.

  • fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Vendors often collaberate on projects .... that's not new. Whole countries collaberate. Sometimes lots and lots of them at once!
  • NJank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2non-recoverable engineering costs can be HUGE for a new car. how many years did it take for them to turn a net profit on the Taurus? If I'm remembering correctly, it took several years...
  • shanesemler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I think the first contribution would be to make it not look so damn ugly.
  • TNHitokiri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, maybe I can learn something about cars now?

    Sure its fugly, but the insides should be the actual point of interest.
  • invinciblechunk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"The entire vehicle’s genetic makeup (specifications, technical drawings, etc.) are available online to anyone, and the car’s creators hope that people will adapt it to their needs and wants, with the caveat that they must share their modifications with the rest of the community."

    I hope the first thing people adapt is that front end, not to look like a toilet.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@Electric

    Blasphemy, "C comma em em comma en" sounds very trendy and will probably become synonymous to cars as the ipod is to mp3 players.
  • VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -2/+4that's what she said. stop saying what she said.
  • noddyxoi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It seems that it is meant for failure. Can you google the name of the car ? no ? failure.
  • Protoman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The Term "Open-Source" is thrown around a lot these days. It's actually getting annoying now. I didn't mind Open Source applications but when they start saying Open Source cars and Open Source beer it just gets ridiculous.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the car looks like a shoe
  • MrTea, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is this license under GPL?

    Will Richard Stallman get mad if you use proprietary fluid?
  • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So uh, wheres the open source files at....? I really want to see the 3d model for it.
  • Allymarie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3did anyone see the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car"? It has some great information... tho I dont know if I agree with it 100% But very worth renting


    my only other comment is "UUUUUGGGGLLLLYYYYY"
  • Ibanezfoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2GM would never do this...
  • cinnix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The one with racket peanut steering?
  • nunbot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3who wants to drive a car that looks like a boot?
  • r3zim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"M she's major ugly O she's fat and pugly. Oh my god no the cow says moo."
  • snoonan77, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I am VERY interested to see projects like this succeed. A car is a pretty serious project, but I think the model of open design with many vendors only improves the result for the consumer for any product. Small customer-focused vendors using open designs and contract manufacturing could produce some great products while still doing well financially. With hardware, you've got differentiators like manufacturing quality, customer service, warranty support, maintenance agreements, etc. Best company wins.
  • aserer511, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah but who wants to go to a dealership and see some random chevy or ford being parted out and used on their car? :P
  • Y0tsuya, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4The contributors won't be able to agree on any single aspect of the car. So you have 5 different steering wheels, 3 signal stalks, 2 different windshield wipers, 2 types of door handles, various placement position of the gas and brake pedals. You can have 20 different radios that look and work completely different from one another. There will be no user manual. Instead each individual part you select will have its own installation instructions that you have to staple together. Great idea for a kit car though.
  • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What do you expect from Open Source? Look at open source software, much of it (not all mind you, but much of it) is just ugly design and poor user interface. So I don't expect an open source car to look good. Open source focuses on getting something functional to the masses, they don't worry about the finer points of design. Ultimately, its up to the implementor of the open source solution to make it look good, but most times they just take the source, mod it quickly to suit their needs, and then leave the uglyness there.

    Anyways, from all the cool and good idea comments where, nobody has ever though about the practicality of this idea. Like anyone here will ever build their own car, open source or not. And I am not about to buy some custom open source job from some fly-by-night operation either. At least buying from a major manufacturer there are warranties and responsibilities and standards behind making and selling the cars, I expect some form of reliability and expectations of safety. Not saying that all commercial vehicles are great, and not saying all open source projects suck, but it would be suicide for a commercial operation to release a car that looked like this which is why they spend a hell of a lot of more time on design.
  • MadMic23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Umm.... sorry for being perverted, but the name looks more like "Semen" to me than "Common" c,mm,n
  • V1ncent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is it free as in beer?
  • rocke86, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, I think a bubble window would look better then the "shoe tongue" shaped window on the car.

    **Must edit source**
  • rawkes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can they not just call it Common ffs...
  • giveer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Y'know what it reminds me of? Remember as a kid, that green plastic caterpillar with the yellow saddle thing that you could "ride" that you'd sort of bounce around on? yeah that.
  • sil5er, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1FTA: "The entire vehicle’s genetic makeup (specifications, technical drawings, etc.) are available online to anyone, ... with the caveat that they must share their modifications with the rest of the community."

    sounds GPL-ish to me. which strikes me as a very smart solution, to the problems that Tom Bearden has talked about, re patents/technology being controlled and locked-up big Big Business.

    Coolness! Now all we need is some forward thinking rocket scientist to contribute that over-unity (ZPE) engine we've been waiting for. maybe Dr Greer should try Open Source-ing his Disclosure Project, and contribute some tech.
  • bbardlbradd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's like something that I've been thinking about for a long time, only the one that I want to see it Open Wheeled, one seater, Much lower, and Mid engined w/ a VW Baja Scoop... something resembling a consumer based F1 car with a closed cockpit. Something that would be fast and easy to get around town in.
  • Luuvitonen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But it doesn't say "Beta" anywhere. So there!
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