GM + Segway = P.U.M.A. Project P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility). Part 2.

Now, connect these 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 General Motor’s vice president of R&D and strategic planning, in a statement. The vehicle is built to carry two passengers at speeds of up to 40 MPH with a range of up to 40 miles between charges. Energy consumption is said to be in the 200 MPG range. Pricing was not announced. Burns said in a statement that it would cost “one-fourth to one-third the cost of what you pay to own and operate today’s automobile.” General Motors said it hopes to have the vehicle in production by 2011-2012. The Segway Personal Transporter debuted with great fanfare in 2001, and has found a niche market, but failed to “be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy,” as its inventor, predicted.

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