You’re Not Going to Believe Project Puma

I got a look at this little sucker recently and it’s the stuff of all my science fiction dreams.  Well, at least most of them–it can’t hover and it doesn’t come standard with particle beam weaponry, but still!

It’s called Project Puma, short for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, and for urbanites it may well be the next best thing to driving a car.

It’s produced as a partnership between GM and Segway, and is described as a “small, nimble, electric vehicle” that looks a LOT like an enclosed Segway.

Basically, if I’m interpreting this right, it’s a car pod.  A tiny little electric vehicle that acts like a car.  Now, I can see a LOT of appeal in something like this.  You know what it’s like to have to go just a couple miles to go somewhere like the post office or the grocery store, and you think, what’s the point in taking the whole car?  But you can’t WALK, or even bike there because it’s just a bit too far for that.  This is where some people think moped, but that’s still a gas engine.

Problems?  You betcha–I can’t imagine this thing doing well in winter for a panoply of reasons, not least of them those two wheels on icy slush or in high winds.  Even if traction isn’t an issue, an unheated cab sure would be.

But hopefully they can iron out the kinks and get these to market, inexpensively.  I’d sure like to try one.