Subscribe by EmailHey, GM and Segway: South Park Already Did It
April 7, 2009 by Casey | 4 comments
By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
GM and Segway have teamed up to “solve the world’s urban transportation problems” with the P.U.M.A., which in the tradition of kitchy acronyms, stands for Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility. Says Jim Norrod, CEO of Segway:
“We are excited to be working together to demonstrate a dramatically different approach to urban mobility. There’s an emotional connection you get when using Segway products.”
Now, we know that segways can be super cool, but I wonder what emotion it is exactly that they’re supposed to bring to mind? It suddenly makes me want to hide for fear of being ridiculed. Or maybe just play polo. Anyway, here are the specs of the prototype:
It increases capacity to two passengers in a seated position; capable of carrying them up to anywhere between 25 and 35 mph (40 – 56 kph) for anywhere between 25 and 35 miles (40 – 56 km) on a single charge. It does so while taking advantage of the unparalleled maneuverability and advanced control you get through Segway’s use of dynamic stabilization (balancing technology). Add in know-how with large format lithium-ion batteries and you have something that’s zero emissions during operation – likely only costing about $.60 in electricity to recharge.
The plan is apparently to convince cities to set up Puma lanes like bicycle lanes. I admit, I’m a little skeptical that these would ever be widely embraced, however. The GM project manager seemed to hit the nail on the head when he noted that though being unveiled in New York, the Puma would probably only appeal in dense cities in places such as India and China, where they would seem a big step up from bicycles. Car-dependent Americans “might not take them as seriously.” Y’think?
There’s also the issue that the Puma isn’t intended for highway use at all, and a major part of the traffic conjestion problem in U.S. cities is the number of people who commute from the suburbs. Atlanta is a good example of this; it has some of the worst traffic in the country, and getting into the city is arguably worse than when you’re actually there.
Of course, there’s another reason I’m having trouble taking them seriously, and that’s because the moment I saw a picture of the Puma from this particular angle, all I could think was this:
Why, yes, that would be the “IT” from the South Park episode The Entity. Intended as a parody of the Segway itself as well as a criticism of the inconvenience of airline travel, the episode featured Mr. Garrison creating this new mode of transportation, which got 300 miles to the gallon. That’s slightly better than the Puma, whose energy consumption is comparable to 200 mpg. Also the IT goes a lot faster. Of course, the downside is that it’s a little uncomfortable to operate.
South Park may have worried that the Simpsons already did it, but it looks like this time they beat GM and Segway to the punch… line. You may have to be in the U.S. to view this, but the South Park episode in question is available online. Please note that the following embedded clip could be considered as NSFW by many.
Of course it is only a prototype, so maybe the Puma will eventually be a little sexier? I just have a feeling that there are a lot of people more concerned about not looking silly than saving the world from congestion and pollution. What do you think, is this the wave of the future?
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I hope this doesn’t come to USA. As if the original Segways didn’t make us look lazy enough. Buy bicycles people!
Sorry GM you just failed!
looks fun to drive
It looks to me as if GM are determined to go bankrupt even after all the government help.