And with that, the first bona fide pre-production Chevy Volt -- its own parts and all -- has hit the pavement. General Motor's storied EV will be taken through the ropes to see what needs to be tweaked / modified before it finally goes into full production, which is expected to be at a rate of about ten a week as of mid-July -- and if you happen to live near Warren, Michigan, you might just spot one of these early models out on the road. Hard to believe Volt's defied more than a few odds, but so far, it looks promising. Good on ya, GM.

As General Motors finally caved this morning, waved the white flag and filed for bankruptcy, those following electric cars immediately wondered what this all would mean for the long-awaited Volt. For years now, GM has steadfastly affirmed that it was moving forward with production regardless of what else was going on within the company and the economy at large. According to Technology Review, a GM spokesperson confirmed again this morning that "the filing will have no impact on the company's plans to start selling the Volt at the end of next year." That said, we have to wonder how much such a statement really means; reports have stated that the US government may up holding as much as 60 percent of the company, and if the primary goal is to bring the outfit back to profitability as soon as possible, Obama and Company may not feel that pouring even more into the high-priced Volt is a good idea. In related news, we hear Tesla is still taking orders...

Update: GM has pushed out an official statement that (in a few words) also suggests that the Volt is still on track.

General Motors has just cut the ribbon, metaphorically at least, on the production of the first genuine Chevy Volt integration vehicle. Unlike previous versions, which have been "developments mules" made using parts from the Malibu / Cruze lines, this will look (and hopefully feel) 100 percent like what the company plans to start pimping out this November. The pre-production model will be put through the paces in case the design needs to be refined and tweaked before going full steam ahead. GM is sticking pretty close to its original plan of building at a rate of ten a week by mid-July, with "several hundred more" going into production early next year, and with any luck, it'll be packing some standardized EV plug by then.

OnStar has been working with the CDC for a few years now in an effort to deliver real-time crash information to first responders, and it looks like it has now finally come up with something that's ready to be put to use. That comes in the form of OnStar's new Injury Severity Prediction technology, which apparently takes some recent CDC findings into account, and uses a whole range of sensors in the vehicle (along with other crash data) to predict whether a crash is likely to have caused severe injury to the people in the vehicle. That information can then be relayed to first responders with a simple severity prediction of "normal" or "high," which OnStar says should be especially helpful in cases where crash victims cannot speak for themselves. While there's no exact date for a rollout just yet, OnStar says it should be available to OnStar advisors "early next year," and that it'll be available on all vehicles equipped with OnStar's Automatic Crash Response system.

[Via GM FastLane]

You've heard of Chevrolet, right? You know -- that struggling automaker underneath the General Motors umbrella? For those who've long given up their ties to muscle cars in favor of the kid-friendly minivan or Earth-friendly hybrid, you may not even know that a revitalized Camaro is just around the bend. Based on some hands-on time with a production vehicle at an undisclosed dealer, Microsoft's Zune integrates perfectly into the sound system, and said integration is supposedly a standard feature on the car. What's more is that we're told some 27 other GM models will also include Zune support from the factory as they launch in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia through 2011, though details beyond that are scant. Hope they cooked in support for the Zune HD, ya dig?

[Via Zune Insider]

Here's a more reassuring timeline for that proposed standardized plug for electric vehicles. The SAE J1772 Task Force-developed charging system, based on an initial design by supplier Yazaki, is now at Underwriters Labs for certification. That's scheduled to be done by the end of May and, if all things go according to plan, it can be adopted for use in the next few months. Speaking to Autoblog Green, General Motors' Gery Kissel listed his company, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Tesla among those participating or supporting the standard. He also said the we-swear-it's-coming-this-year Chevy Volt should be equipped with the new plug, and Tesla's reportedly pledged to adopt it for current plans and retrofit its older models. Things are starting to look up for the EV industry.

Just hours after General Motors put forth a proposal for a standardized plug for electric vehicles, in flies this. German energy firm RWE has stated that a cadre of respected automakers and energy firms have all come together in agreement on a three-point, 400-volt plug that will enable electric cars the world over to be recharged anywhere, regardless of which recharging station they stop at. Caroline Reichert, an RWE spokeswoman, noted that the idea here is to ensure that "a car can be recharged in Italy in exactly the same way as in Denmark, Germany or France." We're told that the agreement includes nods of acceptance from the likes of Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Eon, Vattenfall, EDF, Npower, Endesa and Enel, and while there's no time frame for when it'll be introduced, we're pretty stoked to hear that at least something has been decided upon.

Say what you will about General Motors (okay, so maybe you should say it under your breath), but there's no denying the brilliance of this idea. On the company's FastLane blog, one Gery Kissel explains that engineers and suits will be meeting up next week to discuss the standardization of common components that will hopefully be installed in forthcoming electric vehicles. Notably, the SAE J1772 Task Force will be responsible for designing a plug that links each plug-in vehicle to an "ecosystem," ensuring that drivers can pull into any charging station from Key West to Neah Bay and see a socket that fits their ride. Specifically, the group is being charged with defining a "common electric vehicle conductive charging system architecture for all major automakers in North America," but it remains to be seen if said standard can be hammered out before the Volt's not-to-be-missed 2010 introduction.

Despite General Motors' problems, the company has affirmed, reaffirmed and swore on its life that the Volt would hit the highway in 2010 come hell, high water or insolvency. That said, we reckon coming through on that vow is going to get a lot tougher without a few more billion from the United States Energy Department. You see, GM had applied for $10.3 from the entity, and $2.6 billion of that was to be set aside for building the all-electric sedan and two derivatives of it (as well as a third hybrid model, we're told). Unfortunately for it, all that cheddar is being held up due to its inability to pass a "financial viability test in order to simply survive." Not surprisingly, GM is assuring the world that the government's final decision won't stop the Volt from going on sale this November, but it also said that bankruptcy wouldn't be needed just a few months ago. Ahem. [Warning: read link requires subscription]

That's right everyone -- it's the Engadget Podcast. If you're down with gadgets, chatting, and just kicking it ill, you're in the right place. Hear your friends Josh, Paul, and Nilay discuss the week in technology, and expound on their belief that the P.U.M.A. is a dangerous rickshaw, Acer has stepped up to the netbook plate in a big way, and Microsoft might not be totally on the level with its new ads. Ready to get the blood boiling? Dip your toes into the jacuzzi of chat that is the podcast, and enjoy!

Note: There appears to be some very weird timing issues going on with our audio in this installment. If it seems like we're talking over each other more than normal, don't be too alarmed. We're looking into it now.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Back In Black

01:40 - Engadget's wild ride in the P.U.M.A.
15:35 - Peapod the friendly Neighborhood Electric Vehicle in the flesh
24:40 - Acer launches first NVIDIA Ion-based nettop: AspireRevo
35:15 - Acer announces Aspire Timeline thin'n'lights -- $699 to $899
46:15 - Microsoft's second Laptop Hunters commercial: Giampaulo buys an HP HDX

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Against all odds, GM and Segway let us inside their precious P.U.M.A. prototype, and we went for a quick jaunt down 18th St. We couldn't drive it, unfortunately, but there was plenty of action to be had from the passenger side. Starting from a rest on four wheels -- the main powered wheels and the front two "safety" wheels; we never touched the back two to the ground -- the contraption shoves itself up onto two wheels quite gracefully, with the passenger compartment moving slightly independently from the wheelbase and floor. It was a bit odd, but not at all unpleasant, and we were soon zipping down the road. Since the P.U.M.A. is self-balancing, we felt way less force when accelerating and decelerating than we would in a car, since our body was being "leaned" into it instead of pulled along. Turning on a dime is quite fun as well, and we could see this thing making itself quite at home on city streets. While it remains to be seen if GM and Segway can commercialize this in time, and for the right price, we're fairly enamored -- at least it's something different, and it's already twice as interesting as Segway ever managed to be.

Camera work and moral support courtesy of Autoblog Green's Sebastian Blanco.

We just lived, breathed and experienced GM and Segway's joint press conference, where they "unveiled" the P.U.M.A. one more time for effect. Larry Burns and Jim Norrod from GM and Segway, respectively, talked up what they each brought to the table, and described the vehicle's inception as a partnership.

Segway obviously brought the two-wheel mojo, and seems responsible for most of what's being shown at the moment. As opposed to the Segway's tilt-and-cringe system of navigation, the P.U.M.A. has a more regular steering wheel, but while they're currently demonstrating it with Segway-style acceleration, they plan on swapping that for "Nintendo-style" buttons behind the wheel for acceleration and braking. For GM's part, they plan to integrate its "connected vehicles" technologies to improve safety and efficiency -- and we might not see P.U.M.A. on the road until they can pull it off. The car will not only communicate with other cars and with GPS, but will sense and stop for pedestrians. They plan to show a connected version that will be available for test drives by Real Actual Humans this coming fall, and then next year will come the scariest of all unveilings: GM styling. Right now this is just a chassis, GM plans on slapping on all sorts of "fashionable" candy shells, and if the incredibly unrealistic and "futuristic" renders we saw are any indication (see the gallery below), we'd really rather do without.

The biggest obstacle to commercialization, however, is the lack of infrastructure: P.U.M.A. in its current incarnation is designed for for bike lanes, and the first cities to get it will be ones with existing, comprehensive bike lanes -- not as much of an obstacle in Europe, but quite the stretch for most American cities. Still, the mathematics are quite alluring, with a 35 mile range at 35 mph for a 35 cent charge -- even us mouth-breathing Statesiders can understand that.

Update: We added a video after the break, along with a couple outdoor shots in the gallery. The thing really does look and operate like a two-person, sit-down, Woz-free Segway. You have been warned.

GM and Segway's joint venture is probably best described as a rickshaw without all the charm. The self-balancing Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project (P.U.M.A.) can reach top speeds of 35 MPH, has a lithium battery that lasts up to 35 miles with a single charge, and features vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication for potentially reducing the number of accidents. No word on when or if this'll actually go into production but it's expected to be priced at just 25% that of a regular automobile. Hit up the read link for more pics, including a concept model that's just a teensy bit more reasonable. We'll be at the launch event tomorrow to see it for ourselves and make sure it's not all some bizarre dream.

We know you've been losing sleep just wondering how on earth General Motors plans to get OnStar users to keep on using once their free year is up, but apparently someone up top has been doing a bit more than just mulling. Gearlive received quite the interesting survey from OnStar this week, with a paragraph clearly explaining how Twitter integration would work should it come to the in-car alert / communication system. Essentially, the system could be programmed to read back tweets directed at you and convert your voice to text in order to upload new tweets. Envision this: you tweet that you're headed to Forks, Washington, and you ask your thousands of followers to name a good place to buy garlic. Magical, no?