GM and Segway's P.U.M.A. unveiled and no, this isn't a joke
By Ross Miller 
posted April 7th 2009 1:21AM
posted April 7th 2009 1:21AM
posted April 7th 2009 1:21AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Well I guess... Umm...
I was about to say
Yeah, I guess that's one way to... umm
I can't even finish
I don't get the hate. They're trying to come up with a friendly, green alternative to a scooter for around town travel.
Add it to the list of things I think are cool but I'd never get.
I think Segway views the problems of the world as just needing a balancing wheel. An electric bicycle or scooter would be a much better solution.
"They're trying to come up with a friendly, green alternative to a scooter for around town travel."
And what's wrong with just using a scooter?
Now you can pop a wheelie all da time!
Cool thing is nobody will question your use of the blue parking spots anymore.
Well, for one thing, although you can't see it from this picture, that thing seats two. It shelters you from rain and wind (at least the enclosed concept would shelter you from a crosswind). Is it any safer? That I don't know but I imagine that's what they're going for. For whatever it's worth, that thing has a little bit of a roll cage and seat belts, even if you would still fly off an SUV like a tennis ball of an aluminum bat.
Hey, save all the R&D money GM. Call Yamaha and rebadge their golf cart.
Um.... WTF dude?
You see me rolling, on my segway, tryin to catch me white and nerdy
You mock, but university police and mall cops around the world are rejoicing in unison. Whole campuses and shopping centers will be designed around this chariot for anyone who thought riding a segway was far too exhausting.
The Tata ain't got nothing on this
looks... interesting
For all the people down below who say "this is stupid", the problem is not the vehicle, but rather the context.
1. This is an experimental prototype, not a finished design.
Engineers understand the concept of "rain", and the final design should do something about that and many other issues.
2. This is not a replacement for a car.
This thing is not meant to be driven on the roads between SUVs and semi-trucks. In the ideal setting, there would be streets where only light vehicles like this are allowed. The major problem right now is that streets are designed for cars & trucks, sidewalks are designed for people, and there is nothing in between.
This is really the biggest problem for this vehicle: cities in general are not designed for it; they are designed for cars. Areas like golf courses, gated communities, and maybe farms and big factories can certainly use something like this. But until new cities are made, it's hard to see how something like this can hit the mass market.
Yes, this would be a new type of vehicle. After seeing it though, i have to wonder if everyone won't flock to get Electric Scooters. This might get people who would go absolutely minimalist but don't like Bikes.
My major worry, honestly, aside from Safety, is weight. I'm fairly sure two big guys and a gas guzzling pickup truck can 'cart' it off no problem.
and so those little front and rear wheels are for when....angular momentum stops working?
Well, you need to park it right? lol
Well I mean you gotta have another set of wheels somewhere to counter balance the squealing wheel take offs & threshold braking maneuvers this miniature Ferrari is cable of...
They're for when the thing, well, runs out of juice.
Ever been on a segway when the battery dies? Yeah, it's supposed to give you some time and fair warning, but I've ridden ones that discharged too quickly. Let's just say faceplanting or having to jump off the thing isn't the most fun. I still have scars on my shins.
Well, when you grow up and actually learn how to ride it, they take the little wheels away...
Actually, I think the rear wheels are for going up a hill. Cause otherwise this thing is stuck on
Right, forgot Engadget's comment system is completely flabergasted by a "greater than" or "less than" symbol...
As I was saying, otherwise this thing is stuck on "less than" 5 percent gradient roads and sidewalks.
If it won't topple head-over-heels on a steep incline, I can see this being useful in a city like San Fran, with all those steep-ass, 20-foot-wide, "light vehicles only" streets.
reminds me of wall-e...........................
i don't wana be fat!
LOL
Get. A. Scooter. (Or, God forbid, a bicycle.)
Alright, so the mockup with the full enclosure would have an advantage in the rain. But this still reeks "build a better mousetrap."
Scooters are for third world countries. Don't you know anything?
[/sarcasm]
I LOL'd, seriously.
V2V communication, sounds like fun.
One P.U.M.A. sends a text message to another P.U.M.A.
"d00d plz dn't hit me"
lolpuma?
"For when your to lazy to just stand there and have a machine move you around . . . . ."
Wonder what would happen if you t-boned this in a semi.
Same thing that happens when you t-bone anything with a semi? Pain, wreckage, possible death
Yeah, break away car, forget the air bags! This thing is great! I live in Seattle and you see some pretty cooky **** in places like Downtown, the University District and on the east side (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland). I saw this lady getting on the freeway on a moped in the U District with a full faring on it. You should have seen the bull-dike look on her face! It was hilarious! And people driving these thumb cars all over the place, and on the freeway! Unbelievable. Yeah, I'd like to see some semi wreckage video of that myself.
Seriously after the US govenment helped them and wanted them to improve their products they come out with this scooter thing wow
How is this a scooter?? I love how folks scramble to put labels on things that are too new to be classified. "ooh ooh! It's that horseless carriage!"
If you don't live in DC, you wouldn't know how insanely awesome this type of thing would be.
I live just outside DC and even *I* don't think it would be cool.
The only thing that it would be good for is guided tours if they could be remote controlled or set on a pre-determined route. Other than that, you gonna commute in that? Not on our roads. Take a date out with it? Ha. Pick up groceries? Nope.
...the US govenment helped them ...
HA, that's a good one! You actually called that help? What did they give them, 20 bucks?
@ vertigo1:
I live and work in DC, and I would not get caught dead in one of these things. Well, actually, with DC's buses and drivers in general, I probably would END UP dead in one of these things, which is sort of the point. That and the utter ridiculousness of the proposition of rolling up to an office on K Street, Conn. Ave., PA Ave, or any other Ave, in one of these. And where do you park it? Chain it to a parking meter?
Wow, GM can't even produce an April Fool's joke on time.
fuckin' A !
nice comment.
Didn't Mr. Garrison already invent It?
First thought in my head was the "IT" from that South Park episode.
I'd love to see this thing's crash test rating.
*Thunk* "Joe, you should really watch that curb!"
Look. This thing may seem silly, but it's on the right track in one key way. That is that any energy efficient vehicle has get rid of as much excess weight as possible. The balancing controls weigh less than the extra wheels and frame would, so it should go further on a given amount of energy. Looks cool to me.
Yah, the irony is that it is GM who also makes the huge Trucks + SUVs which this clown cart will encounter all across the USA. I guess they could be onto something if their goal is population control. One just never knows.
Ah so is this how GM plans to ride into the sunset? So sad.
Great, just great.