We're all for environmentally sustainable motor vehicles, but can you imagine picking up your date in one of these? Yet this could be our dorky urban future, which even the most fanny pack-bedecked European would have no choice but to point at and laugh. But the joke's on them, because this compact ride's got a totally bad ass name: P.U.M.A., which stands for Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility. The prototype, developed by G.M. and Segway, was tested yesterday on the streets of New York, and, miraculously, no cabs or Hummers plowed into the thing, though the drivers presumably sustained some damage to their dignity.
James Norrod, the president of Segway, says P.U.M.A, powered by lithium-ion batteries, can be charged in three hours for a cost of 35 cents, and has a 35-mile range before it runs out of juice. Six of these "pods" can fit in a standard parking space, so when you roll with your P.U.M.A. posse, you'll also save a fortune by splitting the parking meter cost. And in keeping with the numerological theme, the top speed is 35 m.p.h. Because G.M. is still deciding whether to commercialize it, the cost is T.B.D., but a regular Segway costs about $5,000.
In showing off his baby to the Times yesterday, G.M. R&D guy Larry Burns said the pods are being designed to utilize G.M.’s OnStar technology, which has six million North American subscribers. The technology lets vehicles communicate with one another over a quarter-mile range to prevent collisions, eventually allowing what G.M. calls "autonomous driving and parking." That way, the pods would literally drive themselves, letting the hands-free urban driver ignore boring traffic while sending important text messages. Acknowledging that this is already the way most morons "drive," Burns told the Times, "My daughter sleeps with her iPhone in her hand. At this point, is using a cellphone the distraction, or has driving become the distraction?"
