A 3D-printed, self-driving minibus named "Olli"

A new maker of self-driving vehicles burst onto the scene last Thursday in partnership with IBM's supercomputer platform Watson, and it's ready to roll right now.

The vehicle—a 3D-printed minibus called "Olli" capable of carrying 12 people—was unveiled by Arizona-based startup Local Motors outside the US capital city Washington.

Olli was designed as an on-demand transportation solution that passengers can summon with a mobile app, like Uber rides. And it can be "printed" to specification in "micro factories" in a matter of hours.

Olli will be demonstrated in National Harbor, Maryland, over the next few months with additional trials expected in Las Vegas and Miami. Local Motors is also in talks to test the vehicles in dozens of cities around the world including Berlin, Copenhagen and Canberra.

Even though Google and several automakers see several years of testing before deploying autonomous cars, Local Motors co-founder and chief executive John Rogers said this vehicle is ready to go into service as soon as regulations allow it.

"The technology has been ready—fielding it is what has been hard," he said in an interview with AFP.

By "fielding," Rogers said Local Motors can design and make the vehicles to specification and offer a service to local governments or other buyers.

"Local Motors is about selling (the vehicles) into the markets that are ready now," he said.

Rogers said the company has an advantage over other systems because it is building the vehicles from the ground up, and producing most components with 3D printers.

"We hope to be able to print this vehicle in about 10 hours and assemble it in another hour," he said.

He envisions hundreds of "micro-factories" producing the vehicles around the world.

The privately held company with about 45 investors can easily revamp its design based on what a customer wants, and lacks the large infrastructure costs of traditional automakers, according to Rogers.