#NYIAS General Motors and Segway are set to announce in a few hours their collaboration on a two-seat, two-wheel electric mobility pod called Project P.U.M.A.
It's called the P.U.M.A. because that stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility and also because that's a cool name. And by putting "Project" with it GM makes it sound roughly as significant as the Manhattan Project. Incidentally, Manhattan (and the Manhattans of the third world) is just the kind of place GM and Segway see something like this pod making sense.
Of course, Toyota and Suzuki have shown their own electro-nubbins over the years and haven't gotten far with the projects. You might also think of the GM/Segway as half of a GEM Peapod neighborhood electric vehicle or a Nissan Pivo (but without all the smoldering sex appeal or the robotic buddy).
The two companies are only 18 months into the project and the vehicle doesn't even have body work yet. We've included an illustration on one proposed body. Anyway, the companies see the P.U.M.A. or whatever it ends up being called (if anything at all) as a low environmental impact way to relieve some of the congestion of the increasingly crowded cities of the future.
Read Inside Line's full story on GM and Segway's Project P.U.M.A.
tryan says:
04:07 AM, 04/ 7/09
Amazing how the more things change, the more they don't. Ford introduced a tiny electric car back in 1967 called the Commuta, and it had nearly the EXACT range and top speed as this thing (actually, the Ford could go slightly farther and had a slightly faster top speed) - except it did it on four 12-Volt Lead Acid batteries and with a fancy balancing system known as 'four wheels'.... ;)
I guess the real benefit (or detriment, depending on how you look at it) is that this GM/Segway offering would probably require minimal registration and insurance costs.
altimadude00 says:
07:22 AM, 04/ 7/09
Back in the 1850s they invented something better than this. It was called the bicycle.
firstwagon says:
10:46 AM, 04/ 7/09
"It was called the bicycle"
I'm guessing you don't live in a city with hills.
bankerdanny says:
12:09 PM, 04/ 7/09
My wife has serious problems with her feet that make it very painful to walk around for more than about 30 minutes without a significant recovery period. She loves the idea of the seagway, except that she would have to stand.
If they made a single person verson of the seated Segway she would be very interested in it.
altimadude00 says:
12:59 PM, 04/ 7/09
Firstwagon--I could probably count on one hand how many hills there are in Florida. Iowa has more hills. This is the most boring driving state in the union.
blueguydotcom says:
08:41 AM, 04/ 8/09
Looks great to me. If it did 65 (thus could go on the freeway) I'd be all over this for a commuter car.
If I lived in the city, I'd want this over a car. And think about this vehicle for the crowded, narrow streets of Europe, Asia and Central America.
As for the looks...don't care. Buying cars for looks doesn't make sense. I own an ugly Buick-like BMW 335i. It's a gawd-awful looking car but it's decent fun to drive.