GM, Segway Team Up

PUMA, a Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, is a GM-Segway cooperative vehicle. If all goes according to plan, the electric powered two-seater will debut in 2012.

I knew that it wasn't an April Fool's Day joke when I read the news, seeing that the “holiday” was several days earlier. Nevertheless, when I learned that ailing auto giant General Motors was teaming up with Segway, the maker of a unique mobility vehicle to build a two seater “car,” I knew that something out of the ordinary was being proposed.

Segway burst on the scene a few years ago with their upright, self balancing scooters, an all new vehicle crafted to navigate through streets, down sidewalks and through other automotive restricted areas, much like a bicycle. Instead of pedaling, the driver would simply steer, turn and brake the Segway, allowing them to go most anywhere and at a decent speed too. The Segway Personal Transporter is popular with campus police, local security departments and for anyone else who needs to get around the city in a hurry.

General Motors has been struggling to survive these past several years, most recently coming under government influence when the company's CEO, Rick Wagoner, was terminated at the behest of the Obama administration. GM is the recipient of billions of dollars of federal government funding with tens of billions more expected to be dished out by taxpayers over the coming months. Oddly, GM is pursuing a relationship with Segway even as it struggles to survive.

The new vehicle dubbed PUMA – Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility – won't be hitting the market before 2012. If it should arrive and the emphasis here is on the word if, then it would run exclusively on batteries and be outfitted with wireless technology which would help drivers avoid traffic congestion and find their way around town.

According to Segway and GM, the PUMA would have as little as one-fourth the operating costs of a standard vehicle, while emitting no emissions. With a top speed of 35 mph, the PUMA could keep up with traffic in major cities like New York.

Though the Segway Personal Transporter hasn't been as practical for some people as originally hoped, the two seater PUMA might change all of that, delivering an affordable and environmentally friendly people mover to the masses.

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