OpenAI is expanding into physical engineering through partnerships with Mazda and Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) to design hardware, run simulations and accelerate CAD workflows. OpenAI said its frontier models help engineers design, simulate and build physical products, and McKinsey highlights that AI simulation has become indispensable in industries with rising product complexity and performance expectations. With Mazda, OpenAI’s research and Forward Deployed Engineering teams work with aerodynamics and crash-safety engineers on simulations of airflow and structural behaviour to explore performance improvements while accounting for styling and cost. Akihiro Nakata, Principal Engineer at Mazda, said that by exploring and simulating dozens of variations, Astra in Codex helps understand which features matter for aerodynamics and where designers have room to explore. CGR uses the models to turn raw 3D scans into editable CAD files when original designs are missing. OpenAI said Astra autonomously designed a complete hardware device from casing to circuit board without direct human edits, and daily AI model usage across its internal hardware and infrastructure teams grew 23-fold since February.