Over the past 30 years, the production of lightweight structures has been one of the most important priorities for the automotive industry. In recent years, much attention has been given to aluminium alloys as an alternative to steel, especially for bodywork. Currently, the main sheet metal components of vehicle bodies are produced by the cold stamping process. However, aluminium alloy sheet exhibits poor formability and severe springback during cold forming, so new technologies such as superplastic forming (SPF) have been introduced and used by the industry. However, the low speed production cycle inherent in SPF limits its application for mass production of automotive components. Therefore, new technologies with higher production speeds need to be developed. One of the most recent technologies is high speed thermoforming (HSTF). The production rate by HSTF is estimated to be an order of magnitude higher than the SPF method. In this context, Verbom Inc, one of the leaders in the production of SPF aluminium parts for the transportation industry in Canada, intends to integrate HSTF technology into its production line. However, to achieve this goal, a more in-depth study of the process is required to determine the influences of temperature evolution during the HSTF process, material behaviour (constitutive equations), friction conditions at the metal-die interface, forming gas characteristics, etc., prior to a large-scale industrial application of this new technology. The present project has been defined in this context and its objective is to develop a more fundamental understanding of the effects of the above variables. The project will take place over three years and will involve a post-doctoral fellow, a PhD and a master's student.