cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/467636
Lets say in 10 years, 3D printing technology become so advanced, almost anything can be perfectly replicated. So I find some leaked car 3d file, I download it, I print the car. What current laws would I be violating? Civil or criminal? And what future laws can you anticipate?
Depends where you are located. Where I am, I’d have to prove to the government that all the parts are certified with traceability reports. Which you cannot get with your at home printer?
Where I am, you’d just need an inspection to certify that it’s road-safe. No parts issues at all.
You wouldn’t be able to register your car in the United States without a bunch of hoops. Many custom builds will leverage an existing wrecked car just because of the existing vin number to ease registration
Right now we already have aluminum printers and arrays that will turn a stone (wood, ice, etc) block into a detailed sculpture.
The cool thing is that prototypes can be printed and then turned into dyes to be filled with steel and cast, and NGOs are using this tech to arm African villages against warlords.
About the same time we make fusion power viable, well be able to construct civil projects in a simulation, test it against the elements with an advanced physics engine and then send an array of constructor robots to build it from the ground up.
Just in time for humanity to get wiped back to the stone age from perpetual severe weather.
You mean like what the “whistleblower” was claiming about the aliens in da ocean launching their built to spec ufos from some sort of base?
Spooky haha
As long as you didn’t republish the files you’d probably be just fine. Anti piracy measures rarely target the downloaders. Also as soon as we have that technology you’d probably be able to find those files for open use, currently there’s communities like FOSSCAD that are dedicated to open source software. I see no reason for that to change.
As someone mentioned, the car won’t have a VIN so it won’t be able to registered or insured in most developed countries. What people do is borrow a VIN from an existing car, which isn’t really legal, but could be passable in day to day driving. That’s why there’s R34 GTRs in North America registered as 240SXs or Altimas, or so the stories go.
That would be very cool to print a new car, but realistically it’s cheaper to buy one if you consider the cost of your time and materials. I mean you have to render all the parts and assemble the thing. Then there’s parts like wiring harnesses you still have to make by hand. Still how awesome would that be drive a car you made yourself.
As far as I know, generally you can register a home built car in the USA, but it varies by state. Different states have different regulations. Typically you just have to jump through some inspection hoops. Not too long ago I converted a couple off-road motorcycles to street legal in Nevada and it wasn’t difficult. Though in states like New York and California a gas powered car may have additional smog regs impossible to get past. A lot easier for an electric one, no smog regs.
As far as the copying, you would only be infringing on any patents or trademarks that may exist. Those are regional and I don’t believe they apply to personal use. Even if they did, I doubt any car maker is going after someone who makes a personal copy of their car. Now if you tried to produce and sell copies, that could get you a lot of attention. But even then it depends where you’re doing it. In China they mass produce exact copies of popular western cars even down to the trademarks, but they don’t export them and China doesn’t care so there’s nothing to stop them.
Remember this guy? https://www.motor1.com/news/375313/dad-3d-prints-lambo-aventador/
Relevant: https://youtu.be/Fb7N-JtQWGI
If you manage to get a printer that can print a car and also proper stls just move to china i guess
