OpenAI's Forward Deployed Engineering team joins Mazda on AI-driven vehicle aerodynamics and crash-safety work
OpenAI says its research and FDE teams are working with Mazda's aerodynamics and crash-safety engineers, part of a wider push to use its models in mechanical and electrical engineering, where an OpenAI FDE says Codex now handles much of the CAD and simulation setup.
On November 3 OpenAI published a post on using its models for physical engineering: designing enclosures and circuit boards, preparing manufacturing drawings, and setting up simulations. It says model usage across its own hardware teams, measured in tokens, has grown 23-fold since February.
The FDE angle is direct. OpenAI announced a new research collaboration with Mazda in which its research and Forward Deployed Engineering teams work alongside Mazda's aerodynamics and crash-safety engineers, using airflow and structural simulations to explore vehicle designs. It is also expanding work with Chip Ganassi Racing on turning 3D scans of parts into editable CAD models, with the customer's engineers reviewing outputs for accuracy and manufacturability. Grace Lam, a Forward Deployed Engineer at OpenAI, is quoted saying Codex has sped up moving from idea to engineered part, including CAD iteration, 2D drawings and FEA setup.
Why it matters: FDE work at the labs is spreading beyond software and back-office workflows into hardware, automotive and manufacturing. Engineers with CAD, simulation or electromechanical backgrounds who can also build with AI agents look increasingly relevant to forward deployed teams, and OpenAI is openly inviting more industrial collaborators.
Source: openai.com