Orange County Register

In another instance of fact being stranger than fiction, Detroit automaker GM and personal-transporter company Segway have teamed up to create a … well, they call it a “vehicle,” but I’ll leave it to you to decide that one.

The two companies today announced the Project P.U.M.A, which is short for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility.

This prototype vehicle is an electric, two-wheeled device that GM says can “allow people to travel around cities more quickly, safely, quietly and cleanly, and at a lower total cost.”

The companies announced this unlikely partnership while demonstrating the prototype this morning in New York City.

“Project P.U.M.A. represents a unique solution to moving about and interacting in cities, where more than half of the world’s people live,” Larry Burns, GM vice president of research and development, and strategic planning, said in an announcement. “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.”

OK, I’m imagining that. Just not on the 55 Freeway.

The vehicle uses the balancing-act technology that keeps the original Segway upright — and worked comic wonders for Gob in “Arrested Development.”

GM says the vehicle will be built to carry two or more passengers, can travel up to 35 mph, and would have a range of 35 miles. The version shown here is obviously just for two people, unless you want to try that old college trick of seeing how many co-eds can fit in/on a small vehicle.

So when will we see these whizzing by in Balboa? Likely not soon. As this is still a prototype, no price has been announced, and no date has been set for when — if ever — the P.U.M.A. will become a reality.

Want more details? Read about Segway’s technology behind the car at its Web site HERE.

Also see:

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• More than 500 sign up to buy Tesla Model S in first week
• Top 5 cleanest gas cars of 2009
• New mpg standards released: 27.3 average for 2011 models
• Say hello to the Aptera 2e electric vehicle
• Writer picks “10 cars that sank Detroit”

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