Volkswagen has tapped into a Quebec company, Loki Box Design, to celebrate the occasion at CES 2023 in Las Vegas and unveil with great fanfare its new operating system for its smart cars of tomorrow.
It’s quite a feat that Quebec-based company Loki Box Design, which specializes in converting shipping containers into mobile structures, has just accomplished. Just two months ago, the world’s second largest automaker, Volkswagen, contacted Loki Box to promote its concept of CARIAD, the operating system that will be in its smart vehicle of the future.
“He wanted our largest structure, it was that or nothing. That’s the concept he wanted,” explains Gabrielle Provencher-Beaudoin, who had initial contact with the manufacturer. And the structure in question is a Lego made of six 40-foot shipping containers that, when nested together, make a three-story construction.
logistics challenge
Loki Box co-founder Gabriel Denis estimates that such a device could take six months to make. When the contract was signed in November, however, there were only two months until the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s largest technology trade fair in Las Vegas.
“We normally calculate a month’s preparation time per container,” explains the man who leads a team of 60 people.
The race against time to ship the containers on the six trucks to Vegas, a 4200km journey, was won, but it was done without counting on the “Snowstorm of the Century” to hit the United States at Christmas.
Largest structure at CES 2023
With a little delay, assembly of the structure began on December 27, but the deadlines were once again tight. It was the first time a building taller than two stories had been erected at the massive Vegas Convention Center.
“The entire congress center had their eyes on us and thought we wouldn’t make it,” says Gabriel Denis. The crane used to stack the final two 40-foot blocks maneuvered just six inches from the ceiling, he explains.
For Loki Box, only one thing mattered: to deliver the product in time for the opening of CES 2023 at 10:30 yesterday morning. “The customer is extremely satisfied,” says Gabrielle Provencher-Beaudoin with a smile in her voice.
CES 2023, which focuses on the intelligent mobility of tomorrow, is particularly important for car manufacturers. Several manufacturers take the opportunity to present their new vehicle, starting with Volkswagen, which has presented its new electric car, the ID.7.
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