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Having conquered the world of passenger vehicles, General Motors Corp. showed off its vision of future transportation today that’s either exciting or frightening, depending on whether one cares about driving.

GM and Segway unveiled the Project PUMA, a two-seat rickshaw minus a rick that uses the Segway’s electric systems to glide around on two wheels. Capable of carrying 700 pounds in a frame about half the size of a Smart car, the PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) can spin on a pin and “bows” to let passengers in and out.

The PUMA — a name that suggests someone at GM or Segway may be a hard-core Hillary Clinton supporter — can hit 35 miles an hour and travel 35 miles on a charge. The mockup vehicle had no creature comforts beyond seat belts, but GM vice president of research Larry Burns says the PUMA could “fundamentally change how we move around cities.”

GM envisions a real PUMA would be stuffed with electronics for constant communications among other vehicles that would handle much of the driving. GM showed off a video imagining how fully formed PUMAs would work – zipping around streets in perfect single file, using telemetry to avoid crashes, and bodywork that folds open like a mechanical egg, like a mashup of “Transformers” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”

“Think Facebook on wheels,” says Burns, the first of several obligatory and stretched Internet references set for this year's New York International Auto Show.

Burns and Segway chief Jim Norrod gave an estimated price tag for a PUMA as one-sixth of what a car costs today. They declined to do the math, but we won’t: call it ,000. Burns said the PUMA could also turn into a “fashion statement," with custom designs.

“They’re almost lifelike," he said. "The body gestures as it accelerates, and it bows down as it stops…It’s very polite."

Given GM’s current 53-day deadline by the Obama administration to cough up fresh cost cuts or head to bankruptcy court, the 18 months spent on developing the PUMA may seem like a waste.

But Burns said PUMA-like vehicles would make sense in a world of exploding growth in cities and spiking oil prices. By GM’s estimates, 80% of the world’s wealth will be concentrated in cities by 2030, especially in Asia.

“If you want to be in the business of selling a mobility machine, you better have one that works in cities,” Burns said.

Lest consumers worry about PUMAs turning on taxpayer dimes, GM did check in with its minders at the Obama administration’s auto task force before giving PUMA rides today.

And should critics think GM has gone too far afield, the company can point to the threat of foreign automakers cornering the market for rolling electric chairs. Last year, Toyota Motor Co. unveiled the Winglet, a Segway competitor, and two years ago showed off the i-Real concept, literally a hopped-up wheelchair.

“We have to cut deeper, we have to cut faster, we have to reinvent the company, we have to reinvent the automobile,” Burns said. “The good news is the government is going to help us make this journey.”

Article Source: Freep.com