“General Motors and Segway on Tuesday will take a two-wheel concept vehicle for a spin around New York City that\’s designed to ease congestion and pollution problems in cities.
The prototype vehicle, called Project P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), is based on the Segway Personal Transporter but it seats two people sitting down.
P.U.M.A runs on lithium-ion batteries and go up to 35 miles per hour and have a range of 35 miles between charges.
It includes some high-tech touches, including GM’s wireless OnStar communications technology that could let a passenger locate other drivers in a city.
The two-wheeler is meant to address the mounting problems of urban car transportation, according to the companies which will unveil the vehicle at an auto show in New York.
“Imagine small, nimble electric vehicles that know where other moving objects are and avoid running into them. Now, connect those vehicles in an Internet-like web and you can greatly enhance the ability of people to move through cities, find places to park and connect to their social and business networks,” said Larry Burns, GM’s vice president of research and development, and strategic planning, in a statement.”