G.M. and Segway Build an EV Only Woz Could Love

General Motors and the people who make the world's coolest scooter have developed a two-wheeled, two-seat electric car that's essentially a big honkin' Segway, which makes us wonder how long it'll be before Woz is playing polo with one.

GM and Segway pulled the sheet off the unusual, albeit innovative, EV on Tuesday morning at the New York Auto Show, proclaiming the car of the future may have two wheels, not four. The beleaguered automaker says the concept vehicle, dubbed Project PUMA - for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility - is just the thing for navigating congested cities with ease.

"Project PUMA represents a unique solution to moving about and interacting in cities, where more than half of the world's people live," Larry Burns, company VP of research and development and strategic planning, said in a statement.

Perhaps the only thing wilder than the styling is the idea the cars would communicate with each other wirelessly to regulate speed, reduce congestion and prevent accidents.

"Imagine small, nimble electric vehicles that know where other moving objects are and avoid running into them," Burns said. "Now connect those vehicles in an Internet-like web and you can greatly enhance the ability of people to move through cities, find places to park and connect to their social and business networks."

PUMA uses a lithium ion battery and something GM calls "digital smart energy management" to deliver a range of 35 miles. Twin motors drive the twin wheels at up to 35 mph, and PUMA features the same balancing technology that keeps you from landing on your face while riding a Segway.

"We are excited to be working together to demonstrate a dramatically different approach to urban mobility," Jim Norrod, Segway CEO, said. "There's an emotional connection you get when using Segway products. The Project PUMA prototype vehicle embodies this through the combination of advanced technologies that Segway and GM bring to the table to complete the connection between the rider, environment and others."

You're definitely going connected to the environment in a PUMA unless GM slaps some doors on it.

PUMA is just a concept at this point, and given GM's precarious financial standing, we'd be surprised if it is anything more than a "wouldn't this be cool..." kind of project. Neither company said how much the 300-pound vehicle might cost should it see production, but according to the Associated Press they suggested the total operating cost - purchase price, insurance, maintenance and fuel - would be one-third to one-fourth the cost of an average car.

Too bad there's hardly any cities where this vehicle can go without being mixed in with cars & trucks or dealing with skinny sidewalks meant for people only.

The Segway is still the dumbest most useless vehicle known to man for able bodied people, although this is a close second.

I still want to know: What the hell is wrong with a bicycle?

1/4 - 1/3 the cost of a car is too much. You can get a bike for 1/200 - 1/50 the price of a car. There's not enough competetive advantage for the price difference.

Not a big fan of the original segway but this looks much more practical, kind of like a side by side scooter with rain protection.

No reason for these things in the cities. Cities have buses. Buses, mass transit, we are always told THAT is the solution to all our transportation needs.

With the obesity problem, why provide another motorized transport that allows the fat to not walk it off.

There's definitely a market for vehicles like these. Look at the thousands of Segway personal vehicles on the streets of New York City!

But picture using one to haul your groceries, your kids, your grandmother, other small packages down Soldiersfield Road alongside the SUVs and messenger bikes. Any nominations for a Darwin Award?

Excellent Idea. I am not sure about the safety though. If you stop on a dime to you have to be concerned about tipping it over?

Posted by: Kristen Fender | Apr 7, 2009 8:21:56 AM

Wait a second. Did you guys just call the Segway the coolest scooter around? What're YOU smokin?

It looks like a pretty neat concept. Really no different than a Moped speed-wise, but with 2 person capacity. If they allow them on suburban back roads I would consider this as a second vehicle.

Hmmmm, looks like the fat-mobiles driven around in Wall-E. What happened to bikes, walking, etc in cities? **sigh**

Based upon the design & color scheme, they should rename the project to Downtown Automobile Leveraging Electric Kineticism.

This vehicle will actually combat the obesity problem since obese people can't possibly fit in them.

Finally, life usually gets around to imitating satire:

Not practical for anywhere else. A smart is a better choice in that case.

Just some years for the end of the related patents than You will see millions such segway cloned.

Sure, it looks cool, but you have to stick the shifter in a very uncomfortable place before it'll work.

It seems the previous responders are all missing the point here.

Consider a city where cars, buses, trucks, and (Gasp!) SUVs are banned.

Where personal transportation is all by these integrated Segways on steroids.

Think of the harmony of motion as all these EVs traverse the various streets. As they will all be interconnected, then traffic lights won't be needed.

With GPS navigation, even hands on steering won't be needed.

Hard braking causes these things to start tumbling. Excellent source of amusent for a YouTube video.

A pot hole could throw the balance off. Another opportunity for a funny YouTube video.

People who must wave their arms when talking on cell phones would play havoc with the self balancer thingy along with eveyone else's amusement.

(Why do people insist on hand and arm gestures when they talk on the cell phone? The other person isn't going to see those gestures!)

didnt they already invent a small 2-wheeled vehicle that takes up about the same amoutnt of space.....called a motorcycle.

Why not just put a third front wheel to keep it balanced without the need of the stabilization system? Wouldn't that save some of the very little precious energy this thing has?

And as those above have mentioned, the technology is over 100 years old, and we still can't seem to improve on it. RIDE A BIKE

Isn't this the same thing that the morbidly obese people in 'WALL-E' rode around in all day? Oh, wait! This one has WHEELS... Totally different.

Posted by: Sarcastic Johnson | Apr 7, 2009 9:13:41 AM

now if only we can teach our garbage cans to walk themselves to the curb.

There is already a small, 2-wheeled vehicle that gets 100mpg+ and glide through city environments, they call it a vespa. Look at china and japan the cars on the street there are second class citizens. I can't believe GM still thinks it's a viable company while they are coming out with crap like this.

Yeah, NYC seems like a GREAT place for those, with all the psycho cab drivers, lol. Death Trap. Maybe it would work in places in europe with those tiny streets.

Like others have said, just get a bike or motorcycle.

Just another example of why GM should not get any baleout money; they haven't got the message - stick to the core business when you are in trouble!

On the other hand, maybe this is the planned core business if/when they go into bankruptcy.

No wonder the US auto industry is in its death throes if this is GM's vision of the future.

Wow, what a bunch of dullards on this board... I bet if Toyota or Honda has come up with this, you'd all be singing their praises... Imagine this vehicle(?) in a city in India or Malaysia or China somewhere where the traffic congestion IS all people on mopeds and bicycles. No noise (virtually), no tailpipe emissions, room for a friend. It's a smaller Tata Nano, not a wheelchair for fat people. Although in North America and Europe this could be a great vehicle for narrow (old) city streets and a good replacement for neighborhood electric vehicles or even golf carts.

I think is a case of Executives at GM trying to make them look good on paper, so they can get $$$ from our government.

How can they possibly think this could be commercially successful? With all that time they spend on the golf course, you'd think they'd realize that a golf cart is just as practical.

I LOVE the concept that all of our vehicles will one day be connected wirelessly and that we will no longer have any accidents and that one central computer will control our speed and whether our vehicles start or stop. Maybe "bad" people will be made to go slower than "good" people.

TR Bob seems to be the only person here who 'gets it'. The days of cars in cities are numbered. Soon it will all be walking and small transport like bikes, segways, and these things. And just throwing this out there...it might surprise many of you to learn there are elderly and others who cannot ride bikes and need automated transport. There IS a market for such a thing in such a model.

I see the future being cities where only emergency vehicles and mass transit are allowed on the road inside city limits. If you have a car you'll park it outside city limits in lots you'll pay a fee for which will provide protection with guards.

We are headed from 6.5 to 10 billion people on the planet quite quickly folks, get ready for some changes.

Anyone else live in Texas? AC is not optional automakers.

The thirst for some new, useless device that limits the upward mobility of Americans will never be sated. Seriously - isn't this the thing they were talking about in Grand Theft Auto 4?

That geek is getting the babes in that? He must be rich or have a big one.

I have to agree that this isn't practical for city streets. I will not live long enough to name all the problems one would have driving something like this in New York or Atlanta.

That said, I see a perfect vehicle for factories, military bases, utility plants, ranches, universities etc. I can't tell you how often I've watched companies try to shoehorn light pickup trucks into areas where this thing would be perfect.

OMG, this looks so funky, where can I buy one? How about a single seat version?

Driving that thing invites people to want to run you over. That and the weenie factor. Really, I can see trying to pick up chick in that one!

Stupid and ugly... What are these companies thinking? I hope the money for it did not make its way from the bailout.

I call it STUPID, or if you prefer "Self Transportation and Utlitarian Personal Itineration Device."

these comment boards are an endless source of amusement for me. First you bitch and bitch about how for years Detroit has built nothing but fossil fuel guzzling polluters while showing absolutely no imagination or even displaying an understanding of the thought that the future may be different.

Then they come out with this, dare I say "revolutionary" concept, and you just shred it. What gives people?

Hey I know, let's give them another couple hundred billion so they can build hummers for all of us!

Posted by: amused to death | Apr 7, 2009 9:55:01 AM

"PUMA is just a concept at this point, and given GM's precarious financial standing, we'd be surprised if it is anything more than a "wouldn't this be cool..." kind of project."

Hmm I think this says a lot about GM's problems. Wow were basically bankrupt, lets create an ugly and more impractical rip off of a Segway. Sweet!

Posted by: Chris Peterson | Apr 7, 2009 9:58:36 AM

A 35 mile range at 35MPH? That's just an hour of drivetime. Wouldn't even get me to work.

Posted by: blondepianist | Apr 7, 2009 10:02:04 AM

@Chris Peterson: Learn to read. It's not a 'rip off', it was co-developed by Segway.

Two seats, huh? Sorry, but I have a feeling you'd be lucky to fit one typical American in that thing (wide load), ha ha.

I have to admit I'm impressed that nobody's made any comments about it looking like a Warthog or a Chupathingy.

Maybe General Monkey Corpse could use some of that brain power for something other building something that most cities will either relegate to roads only (hello San Fran and the segway (p.s. according to the spell checker segway is not a spelled word)) or putting NASCAR Malibu's in the wind tunnel and call some of their constituent brands and figure out how to build and sell them! (Opel, Isuzu (oops made money over sea so they sold it), Vauxhall etc..

Too expensive, I wouldn't pay a probable $6000-$8000 for a machine that wouldn't keep me dry if it rains.

And it accommodates 2 persons, ONLY if those 2 are slim hipsters.

Posted by: red pill junkie | Apr 7, 2009 10:22:00 AM

The second you go into the grocery store it vanishes into the back of a pickup truck. Among the huge list of other things that makes sure this POS will never be wildly adopted.

Posted by: proadventurer | Apr 7, 2009 10:27:16 AM

I also like the "decapitation bars" right at neck level.

Posted by: proadventurer | Apr 7, 2009 10:28:30 AM

Wow, the two biggest purveyors of crap that no one wants to buy have joined forces to create the ultimate useless vehicle. It'll look good in the "failed ideas" section of an auto museum.

What people don't realize is that they are riding in an electrical field that is not healthy. I took a Gauss meter in a 2009 Prius and its goes into a field that is not healthy. For example, European standards for exposed milligaus in your standard home is 1. US standards in homes are a 4. A Prius maintains a 10 on a meter going just 20 mph and goes higher the faster you go. All these electrical vehicles are good if you don't mind frying your balls and boobs. 30 years should see a spike on tumors in those areas.

These idiots still don't get it. We don't need this personal transportation toy in our cities. As others have pointed out here, a bicycle makes more sense. What our cities really need is convenient, dependable public transportation that people would 'want' to use.

I'm surprised at all the wall-e references, cars do basically the same thing for most people so it seems a bit hypocritical to make that judgment, especially when these things have a smaller carbon footprint and can be powered by renewable energy sources like solar.

This won't be picked up in america anytime soon but I think it could an incredibly competitive product where bikes and motorcycles are in large use, especially if they can make them safer and more durable. If they manage to decrease the cost to about 10% of the average car they may be able to ship a lot of them as exports to europe and asia where smallever vehicles are more widely accepted.

Takes up way too much space for something that functions like a bicycle. It's too slow and perhaps too small and unsafe for any city streets, yet it's far too large to have them on the sidewalks without pissing people off...

For you "what's wrong with bicycles" clowns: bicycles are INHERENTLY DANGEROUS. If you, today, invented the bicycle and tried to get approval for it as a transportation device, you would be thrown out of the building.

Bicycles cannot physically track a straight line (no, not even Lance can do that), they cannot actively stop themselves, they have endless little sharp things sticking out to impale pedestrians... want me to go on?

2) Transporting reasonable sized loads (groceries and the like)

3) Getting kid, elderly parent, etc. to the doctor - or anywhere!

Just 3 obvious areas where this would be much better suited for many folks than a bike.

Posted by: Humus B. Chittenbee | Apr 7, 2009 10:59:15 AM

GM building this? Sounds like another service department trap devised by GM. Imagine all the money they would be making repairing these. I wish though that these machines would be Japanese.

And it's still WAY too expensive. I rather get an electric mobility scooter and put a Plexiglas roof over it and it'll be a lot cheaper.

very nice suicide booth.. very nice.. and it can roll wherever you want..

Sigfried did you miss my above post? You're basically riding on a transformer with wheels. Carbon footprint or not, take a Gauss meter inside any electrical vehicle and tell me you think its a smart idea to ride in those fields. Its not. Being in a field of 50 when the national standard of safety is 4 is just plain ignorant. That's what most people are when it comes to electrical exposure-ignorant. I'm trying to make people understand that the problems that an electrician would fix in your home due to faulty wiring and high readings on a Gauss meter are the very problems that go undetected in electric vehicles. Think about it.

ohh.. amost forgot. some germans do their scooters in china. electro, only two weels and cheap as hell. aside that you can drive it faster and better in a city. aside that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrix

GM showed fantastic innovation capability here. Golly gee!! They said, lets put a body on a Segway. And they got busy for about a week and did it. What dedication to the future. Is this proof of their ability to survive in the coming world?

It is a little more practical from the personal point of view than the Segway in our present cities. Though I think Dean Kamen intended that his idea would cause us to abandon suburban life styles, which, unfortunately have a lot going for them and seem to be eagerly the choice of most real people.

Posted by: Jim Bullis, Miastrada Co. | Apr 7, 2009 11:13:26 AM

Why don't they just make a freakin' one wheeled electric unicycle, strap it to your arse and call it a day. Jeez.

This would totally work in Beijing and Shanghai where they build for three modes of transport: individual people walking, cars/trucks, and everything between. City streets are constructed to accomodate this with curbs keeping the lanes separate. In the in-between lanes you see everything from bikes, scooters, people hauling giant carts, home-made motorcycles, anything that isn't fast enough for the car lanes. The fact in the US we have a two-mode system means yeah, creative things like this have literally no place on our roads. Frankly, it's our loss because this looks really practical to me. I am not interested in picking up chicks. I am interested in getting to and from work and the grocery store in professional clothes, but without using all the resources of a car to just move little me around. I do ride the bus daily, but this severely limits the range of neighborhoods I can live in.

All I know is that I would sure NOT like to be in traffic with one of these. Other traffic could be really dangerous, and getting rear-ended could be fatal....

Another great idea by liberal egghead nerds who have never gotten laid... and this vehicle will help keep it that way.

Thanks, but I'll keep my BLACK COBRA, my Expedition XLT, and my dignity.

I met a guy with a Segway in NYC once. He said he's gotten 2 tickets thus far.

One for driving on the sidewalk, and another for DUI.

It just looks like a handicapped nerd cart. The people next to it look at it like "Watch your back, special needs cart thing on your right, oh."

First intelligent thing to come out of Chevrolet in decades. Last big item was the Diesel Chevette.

I missed the boat on those so I'll get in line now please.

At the rate with which GM embraces & successfully implements new technology, it will be about 400 years before this is available.

@CityZen - All I have to say is Europe. Small streets, scooter-friendly and many that don't even allow large vehicles.

The thing that bothers me is "networked" vehicles. If the Feds can't track you by your cell signal, they'll just triangulate the last known location of your vehicle by IP or MAC address.

Ah, hell they're gonna keep the herd in line anyway they can, we might as well just submit, right?

This makes me want to cry. Once again a design for the elitist environmental left. Ok fine, I'm overreacting. Ok. Ok. Fine I said! But that's exactly what it feels like.

Just once, just once I'd like to see a real honest design that could actually work for a lot of us who don't live in cramped in overcrowded cities.

I mean this concept feels so extremely limited to me. Maybe, maybe you can get this to fly in LA or NY, but that's about it. I know it's not designed for it extreme weatehr conditions, but that's the very first thing I thought of. Outside of maybe LA or in Florida, the weathercan get so crappy so often you wouldn't use it a fraction of the time. Just saying...

Talk about a niche market...you have to be interested in this, afford it, AND be rail thin to fit in it.

That girl's pretty thin, and is crammed in the passenger side worse than an econo-class flight.

Posted by: Michael Ashleigh Finn | Apr 7, 2009 11:54:30 AM

"Why don't they just make a freakin' one wheeled electric unicycle, strap it to your arse and call it a day. Jeez."

And if you're a really tough guy, you can take off the seat!

This would be cool to have at the beaches with boardwalks that already have a lane designed for multipassenger bicycles and tricycles. Other than that this pretty much has zero market. You can't ride that thing around the city.

"Perhaps the only thing wilder than the styling is the idea the cars would communicate with each other wirelessly to regulate speed, reduce congestion and prevent accidents."

It's only an idea. Does anyone know how much work (i.e., ca$h) would be needed to develop the system / hardware / software for these things to communicate with each other? It's a pipe dream.

Um, wTf happened to bikes? For all of you wusses that are afraid to ride a bike in a city, let me tell you, a helmet will probably provide more protection if you get creamed by a car than this tin can coffin.

There is already an inexpensiv, energy efficient two-wheeler that will transport two people and a couple of bags of groceries up hills and down and as far as you'd like to go...it's called a scooter!

I have a leg injury that forced me to park my bike but my Vespa gets 100mpg, is virtually indestructable and is a blast to ride. As for weather protection, it's called a rain suite and cost $20.

Posted by: PJ FitzGerald | Apr 7, 2009 12:39:30 PM

Greetings from Europe. I don't have a car, because I don't need one. I live in Berlin which is not exactly a small town.

1. "bike lanes". Bikes work and they are cheap. Ok they're a pain in the ass in a winter blizzard but they are just perfect if you can roll along a traffic jam.

2. "small cars" If you need more payload most of the time a car like a Tata Nano or the Smart is really enough.

3. "car sharing" there some pilot projects in gemany at the moment

4. "public transport" rush hour in Berlin means a subway train every 4 min. And spending no money on a Porsche means I could go by a cab every single day.

Well, you probably cannot afford that in downtown Manhattan, but why commute for hours every day. Think about living downtown or taking your work home.

I can see it as a prototype of a possible alternative for people of limited mobility (if certain safety concerns were addressed) but as a replacement for bicycles or scooters? It's not practical.

Finally I can satisfy my dream of knowing what it's like to drive a mailbox!

Plus, the hippie chicks will be lining up to spread their legs for you when they see you driving one of these things...

It's always fun until someone gets crushed by a semitruck.

Posted by: Tiberian Fiend | Apr 7, 2009 1:23:24 PM

MILLIONS FOR A BAILOUT BUT NOT A CENT FOR THIS STROLLER!!!

So GM's viability plan is to build vehicles intended for city layouts that barely exist at a cost very few will embrace in an economy for which their idiotic business practices are partially responsible? Awesome.

JUST WHAT I'D EXPECT FROM GM's GERIATRIC MANAGEMENT, A SOUPED UP WHEELCHAIR.

How many of these would have to be purchased to save the planet? If you and everyone else in the US just properly inflated your tires today (even with SUVs), the US would save 6% of its oil usage. You don't have to buy anything to stop waste.

The big 3 astound me. Between hydrogen cars when there is no hydrogen to big flywheels in race cars, there seems to be a big gap in the engineering educations up there.

BTW, we paid billions of tax payer dollars for them to come up a hydrogen car that was no use. Do you fell lucky>  

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