GM Partners With Segway, Inc. to Develop New, City-Based Personal Vehicles

General Motors and Segway Inc. have announced a plan to develop a small two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle targeting cleaner, safer mobility in cities.

According to excerpts from the article:

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA, project also would involve a vast communications network that would allow vehicles to interact with each other, regulate the flow of traffic and prevent crashes from happening.

The companies did not release a projected cost for the vehicle, but said ideally its total operating cost—including purchase price, insurance, maintenance and fuel—would total between one-fourth and one-third of that of the average traditional vehicle.

Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research and development, and strategic planning, said the project is part of Detroit-based GM's effort to remake itself as a purveyor of fuel-efficient vehicles. If Hummer took GM to the large-vehicle extreme, Burns said, the PUMA takes GM to the other.

Burns said that while putting that kind of communications infrastructure in place may still be a ways off for many American cities, the automaker is looking for a place, such as a college campus, where the vehicles could be put to use and grab a foothold in the market.

Read the entire article here.