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
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"BAM! Third wheel!"
THE FUTURE IS NOW!
Honestly?
1) Make it big enough for a fat man like me.
2) Put a back seat on it (facing front or back), so that I can have a passenger or a load of groceries. It could even be options: plain flatbed, cargo box or backseat.
3) Put full enclosure on it, so that I can drive it in the rain AND lock it against thieves/joy-riders.
And ... if it's really affordable (say, less than $4,000 fully loaded), then I'd seriously consider it. I might even buy two.
I should have RTFA'd first.
The side-by-side 2 seater model would be acceptable. Esp. if it had a small cargo 'backpack'.
The drawn concept for an external shell would be acceptable too.
For those who wonder about use cases ... I normally walk to the nearest commuter train station (San Jose/VTA light rail), and take that to work. My car died the day before thanksgiving, and the only thing I miss about it is: rainy day commutes, and grocery trips (right now, I get stuff delivered to the house from the major grocery store, but Whole Foods and Trader Joes don't deliver).
So, that's what I'd use this thing for:
1) On rainy days, I'd drive it to the train station instead of walking. Thus my need for a shell that can lock against thieves (while its parked at the train station all day), and keep the rain out.
2) For trips to Whole Foods, Trader Joes, the drug store, and similar places that are all within that range, I'd be able to drive it there.
My 4plex has garages, so I could easily clear out enough room for this thing to keep it charged.
Yup, I'd love one of these. My wife might be able to make use of it too.
...srsly? I mean, maybe if the thing had legs ... cool, but I'm thinking the reason behind unveiling this thing is to make the Segway look like a good idea.
Yes, seriously. It may not fit a practical need for you, but it does for me.
smart for one
fantastic...what we need is a new category for vehicles...and mobility service (not ownership)!
Garry G
Editor
The Energy Roadmap
http://www.theenergyroadmap.com
Besides the block I drive in my neighborhood street, not a single road has a speed limit less than 40 on the way to work. Not a single person in the compute back or forth hits the speed limit or below. I'm get cursed and crushed trying to use this thing in its intended fashion(limiting traffic flow). That, and I'd be laughed at, the thing is pretty damned ugly.
so many comments about our cities and streets not being built for this...
but so many are.
I live in a mid-size southern city and there are bike lanes everywhere and my commute to work is about 2.5 miles, with most of it car/bike/ped friendly from neighborhood to downtown. so this would actually suit me well because as mentioned, that distance takes too long to walk, you'd be sweaty after a bike ride during non-winter and a car is overkill and needs a parking space. not to mention rain, which is not scooter friendly either.
the "passenger seat" looks great for a couple grocery bags, gear bag, or your fit friend/spouse. who needs cargo, they can hold it.
So... I don't see cup holders anywhere... Lame!
Umm yeah. So let's see. How many months in the year do New York city and D.C. have weather where this thing would be feasible? You'd freeze your ass off in one and then of course there is the issue of driving it in the snow. This is a joke.
Looks like a rickshaw on steroids.
with GM behind it, how could it possibly fail?
Jesus Fucking Christ.
Where the hell is the market for this? So you can go 35 miles on a single charge? What happens when your ass gets fatter from driving this around instead of getting some exersize? Way to go GM. More evidence to show why GM is having financial issues.
eh,,...it's raining and I'm *beep* getting wet....
its called a warthog. WTF is a puma? Stop making up animals!
This is actually perfect for the city/commuter.
If they could get a dedicated lane for this, or better, get all subway and trains to allow these onboard... just drive onto a train, get downtown, roll out and off you go to the office.
I do think this is future. Unfortunately, I think we're many years away from this.
How the hell can they can get this on the road, when they can't bring the BMW C1 to the US itself? That thing looks WAY cooler than this.
Walk? Bike?
Let's not forget, this is a concept vehicle. It also seems most of you can't realize that not everyone want's or needs the same from a vehicle as you do. Without new ideas (and most fail) America wouldn't be what it is today, a great, innovative country. One man's junk is another man's treasure.
Again, it's a concept vehicle. I'll bet it didn't take hundreds of millions to come up with this one, and it might have only a niche market, but could possibly be very lucrative for GM and Segway. And it's green. And I don't think there have been many scooters that have won any battles with SUV's, so why is everyone wanting this thing to be as safe as a truck? It can't be everything to everyone.
Think outside the box for a change, that's how innovation works...
This may be the worst design I've ever seen:
In other pictures you can see the driver's leg hanging out because its too narrow - accident waiting to happen lol.
"Hi mom, yeah I'm in the hospital. Yeah, leg got taken off at the knee by a lamp post. Suck I know."
What the point of putting two seats side by side when there still isn;t actually enough space for them both. Should have put back to front. *sigh*
The American car industry is back! Woo-hoo!
[/sarcasm]
Looks like an awesome wheelchair. Or Grandma's new rascal.
Too bad they discontinued the iBot.
I don't understand the laughter and negativity. This thing is cool and would be beyond amazing to have one to buzz around Manhattan/NYC and park where ever the f I wanted to! The entire maze of streets is literally jammed packed with parked vehicles along every inch of sidewalk. 90% of those vehicles are of the large variety with new city friendly compacts still just a fraction of it all. Besides resident/visiting parking along sidewalks, you get a second row of parked vehicles such as service trucks, illegal parking, combined with road projects and other blockage. It's maddening to simply get from point A to point B in that place and it's all because of a mass of biggish vehicles jammed into a small space. If I had one of these things I could eliminate subway/bus madness and just buzz over to where I needed to go. Parking would be a snap as there's always some space to squeeze a motorcycle into. Imagine Manhattan where even just 60% of the vehicles were like this or the Smart Car variety. You'd get about 100,000 free street parking spots to open up. And they say eventually it could drive you like a chauffeur? That's friggin' amazing and I'm all for it!
It's got great potential in suburbia too. I grew up in suburban area where a car is a must but just 5 minutes away is every store or convenience I could ever possibly need. A second car could be this thing to buzz down to stores, whatever, or head over to the park to jog/swim while getting the equivalent of 100 mpg.
I agree. People tend to be far to negative and unreceptive to new ideas. While I live in America I can clearly see why America has become such a joke around the world. Europeans (ohhh and the majority of the world) drive smaller goofy looking cars and we in our huge SUVs and 8 bedroom houses look down on that (or the moron with with the 23 295GTX video cards). I'd say Engadget readers are fairly well educated, middle to middle-upper+ class people.
Those who have commented (I'd say most comments have been negative or just stupid) show the typical attitude and lack of understand that most Americans have. This thinking has gotten us where we are today, a collapsed banking system, government and corporate corruption (unavoidable but manageable) and the worst part; a population of xenophobic sheep that would not know where to begin a revolution. OR you're too comfortable in front of your computer screen with plush chair to do anything.
Build these things for the masses, albeit with a few key changes. A lot of people need at most 35 miles to go to work and back, or just to work because you can then charge it at work. Electric in all sorts of devices from small commuters to larger, longer distance vehicles is inevitable. Rather than hate, celebrate. HAHA seriously though if you don't like something give suggestions on what to change.
Where would you plug it in for charging?
Wow, for supposedly tech minded people, I'm always amazed at the lack of vision of Engadget posters...
First, this is a concept vehicle - A CONCEPT VEHICLE! If you bothered to read the link or any more information on this issue, you will know they are not looking to make or market this particular vehicle. They designed it as proof-of-concept and will take what they learned from it to possibly use on future production vehicles. Maybe it will be the whole concept, maybe it will only be a certain software algorithm they created for the concept. This is the way cars have been designed for about the entire history of the auto industry - create something wild, just to see what you can use from it.
Second, it is obvious the majority of people posting have no experience in any type of design or engineering of products. Some how, they believe fully fleshed, retail, products come off the tube and into production.
Maybe I'm pissy today, but reading posts like these make me glad most of you don't work in an industry I would have to use your products.
(and for full disclosure, I don't directly work for an auto company, but design the robotics and assembly lines that cars are built on)
Amen brother! I agree completely!
Im wondering what 25% of what car are they going from...... although the concept looks alot less like a wheelchair and more like this concept I saw years ago at the Tech expo except it had a big screen in front of it.....
FINALLY leaning forward to go up a hill is going to come in handy.
"What? Like the shoe company?"
"No, like a big cat or something"
RvB FTW! =)
Do people want to look like upgraded units from a RTS game? Will their legs weaken over time?
It looks like a tall version of the Burley I used to pull my kids behind me on bike rides when they were younger.
It is worse than a joke. It's Fritz's folly.
This is an interesting concept, and I'd love to have one - in theory. But when you consider actually putting it into production, I become quite thankful not to be a GM stockholder.
This vehicle might be a clever idea if there were a place to operate it, but where would that be? Sidewalks? No. They couldn't even get the original Segway approved for that in most cities. Too dangerous to pedestrians. City streets as they now exist? Who wants to get hit by a 4000 lb. sedan while riding in this? Okay, so we clear the streets of cars and create a PUMA zone. That's not going to happen for a number of reasons, but it makes more sense than anything else. Even with no cars around, this thing travels at 35 MPH. Does anyone want to hit a stationary barrier at 35 MPH in this? No. Does anyone want to be hit in a side impact crash (zero crash protection there) by another PUMA and two occupants doing 35 MPH? No way.
Even if these issues could be overcome, and there was demand for this vehicle, does anyone think a company with $60 billion in debt is the right one to produce it?
Whatever cash GM is wasting on this, they should be investing in developing a competitor to the 50 mpg 2010 Prius. Somehow, I doubt Toyota is worried.
hey chispito,
The friendly green alternative to getting around town that isn't a scooter is called a BICYCLE, been around for a long time.
moron "i don't get the hate" the hate comes from how hardworking people are having their tax dollars put into saving a sinking ship who clearly have a board of directors made up of chimpanzees, and not those smart apes that they sent to space, the really dumb ones that sit around smelling their fingers.
half-lane vehicle! Iz the wave the future. I hope you are all ashamed for driving expensive pretentious full-lane vehicles.
LOL Toyota had already come up with something better earlier. Look in Top Gear (i think season 11) if u don't believe me.
GM can't even get an April Fools joke out on time.
So is GM going to push cities to remove parking or reallocate moving lanes of traffic. This is hard enough to do for bicycles which thousands of people are already using. Good luck for an ugly vehicle which nobody is using. This shows what happens when two failed transportation companies team up to make a product.
These things will also be miserable in the winter. At least on a bicycle, people are getting exercise to stay warm. In these things, people will practically freeze to death. That was one of the problems with the Segway. Postal workers complained of becoming "popsicles on a stick".
Still, given a decade or two, something like this may take off. Too bad GM spent years lobbying for roads at the expense of walking and cycling.
This will never work, Theres no room even for a handjob.
Since GM is involved with this, how much of my taxpayer money is paying for the development and production of this turd?
Looks oddly cool and potentially a helluva lot safer than scooters and motorbikes. If they design it's skeleton right that is. I should think judicious and increasingly inexpensive use of lighter materials like Carbon fiber and Titanium alloys would be called for here. Any mass added above the center of gravity would make the "Drive by Wire" computer's job even more difficult. Presumably the outrigger wheels are for parking purposes.
Have Segway ever thought of designing an electric wheelchair?
On the problem of heating in cold climates:
If fuel cell technology were used in the vehicle one of the by-products is actually heat. Just an idea. Along with diverting electric power to a heater if needed. If the Segway patents last long enough to take advantage of recent and near future developments in cheap Titanium production and fuel cells America could enjoy the benefits of inventing key technologies. Much like what happened in the Microprocessor Revolution of the late 20th century.
The whole thing might look a bit silly to Americans but we Euros and the Pacific Rim might go for it like a "pack of rats" and the American taxpayer might have quite a bit sliced off their national debt because of this. Since it may well own most of GM in the future.
Reserve judgement is what I'm saying. See what happens. Ya never know.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1017/1413506458_2228ff1271.jpg
This design seems more fitting.
sweet wheel chair
Of all the 25mph city electric vehicles, this is the one I really would buy. I hope it is not to long before they sell it. You can add a clapsable trunk on the back for grocerys. I love the segway but would rather be sitting, I guess, than standing. Not that there is any thing wrong being a stander or anything...