Have you ever thought to yourself that you’d really like to drive a cross between a Segway scooter and a golf cart? No? Well, luckily Segway and General Motors have thought of it for you.

They’ve just unveiled the prototype of the PUMA: Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility. The concept is to take the Segway but make it a two-person vehicle that allows the users to sit rather than stand. The all-electric vehicle can detect and avoid other vehicles so there will be no airbags, and seatbelts will be “for comfort only”.

The firms claim the vehicle, which runs on lithium ion batteries can reach 35 miles per hour and travel 35 miles before it needs recharging. You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to work out it’s for short city trips rather than the interstate.

Pricing isn’t yet confirmed, though GM’s Larry Burns hinted it being “one fourth to one third” the cost of today’s automobiles.

Apparantly the vehicle also “enables design creativity, fashion, fun and…”

(Believe me, the ‘and’ is worth waiting for.)

“…and social networking.”

From what we can tell, this doesn’t mean you can ‘Tweet and Ride’, or poke other users, but instead it’s a reference to technology which makes it possible to locate other users of the vehicle who are driving nearby. Presumably the idea is that you then meet up for a coffee and discuss your love of gadgets rather than use the system for a 35mph version of Grand Theft Auto.

It could be argued that sinking cash into a project that appears to have virtually zero chance of commercial success at a time General Motors is looking for bailouts. But on the other hand, it’s kind of refreshing to see engineers come up with bizarre projects such as this just to see what happens.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 1:21 pm under Auto, Green Technology, Technology.

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