MY OTHER CAR IS A SEGWAY
Apr. 8th, 2009 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM [via BoingBoing Gadgets]: You know those Segway scooters that never caught on? GM has developed a two-seat Segway for urban driving.
Code name: P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility).
Pro: Lithium battery powered, can go 35 miles per hour and runs 35 miles on a single charge.
Con: looks as silly as the Segway, no weatherproofing, would lose in a collision with a bike messenger.
I predict failure.
That said, there is one nifty idea in all this: PUMAs would use GPS receivers and a network grid that would allow them to automatically detect pedestrians and other vehicles to avoid collisions.
The only issue there is that these are aimed at urban usage, and GPS is currently next to useless in urban canyons. Then again, by the time the PUMA ever sees a commercial launch – ten years from now if they’re lucky – GPS will be coupled with land-based networks to provide GPS-level accuracy even while indoors.
If nothing else, companies are already working on GPS systems that allow cars to detect pedestrians, thus making them easier to hit avoid. Japan already has a test system up and running in Okinawa.
Street to street,
This is dF
Code name: P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility).
Pro: Lithium battery powered, can go 35 miles per hour and runs 35 miles on a single charge.
Con: looks as silly as the Segway, no weatherproofing, would lose in a collision with a bike messenger.
I predict failure.
That said, there is one nifty idea in all this: PUMAs would use GPS receivers and a network grid that would allow them to automatically detect pedestrians and other vehicles to avoid collisions.
The only issue there is that these are aimed at urban usage, and GPS is currently next to useless in urban canyons. Then again, by the time the PUMA ever sees a commercial launch – ten years from now if they’re lucky – GPS will be coupled with land-based networks to provide GPS-level accuracy even while indoors.
If nothing else, companies are already working on GPS systems that allow cars to detect pedestrians, thus making them easier to hit avoid. Japan already has a test system up and running in Okinawa.
Street to street,
This is dF
