Looks a little like something Dr. Evil might drive

Not content with the standing variety, San Diego based Segway and Detroit’s GM have partnered on what could be the ultimate city transportation. The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project, or PUMA for short, aims to blend the Segway paradigm with a more traditional form factor. Siting ontop of two wheels with a weight shifting system that slides the passenger compartment backwards and forwards over the wheels the autobalancing system allows the PUMA to accelerate just like a Segway whilst providing a comfortable and more traditional seated steering wheel based control scheme. The two wheel package allows on the spot turnin, ultimate manuverability, a top speed of 35MPH and a 35mile range between charges which only cost 35 cents. Despite it looking like a supercharged wheel chair, this could be the next big thing replacing the Smart Car and the G-Whiz (yuk) as the city speeder of choice should the price and availablility be right. Those thinking this could be a death trap, for those who drive in a big city you’ll know what I mean, GM’s part of the deal is their inclusion of their ‘connected vehicles’ tech which promises safety and efficiency. I’ll believe it when I see it crash tested, but still this looks like a very promising concept of personal transport in the near future.

Hit the read link for the sprightly PUMA in action courtesy of Paul Miller from Engadget: