OpenAI has GPT-6 Astra design a physical device and starts a research collaboration with Mazda on car aerodynamics
OpenAI says two staff members on a side project used GPT-6 Astra to design a small device for talking to Codex in under a week: its look, enclosure, circuit board and firmware, with no direct human edits. A contract manufacturer built prototypes within a month. Readying it for production still took several review rounds, as the model did not consistently account for production limits, tolerances or assembly details. OpenAI also announced a research collaboration with Mazda's aerodynamics and crash-safety engineers, using airflow and structural simulations to explore new vehicle designs. On BenchCAD 2.0, a test of rebuilding 3D parts and identifying circuit board connections, OpenAI reports a newer internal model averaged 0.875, versus 0.594 for GPT-6 Astra at its highest reasoning setting.
Why it matters
It shows models moving from writing code into designing physical products, with both what worked and where the model still fell short, and a carmaker now using it in real development work.
Sources1
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