VIDEO: GM/Segway Puma!

Can't wait to not buy one of these!

VIDEO: The New GM/Segway Puma source

GM and Segway are teaming together to build a new two-wheeled vehicle made for zipping around city streets. The GM-Segway PUMA — short for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility — combines the small size of Segway’s Personal Transporters with the real-world application of GM’s motor vehicles.

We just lived, breathed and experienced GM and Segway's joint press conference, where they "unveiled" the PUMA. one more time for effect. Larry Burns and Jim Norrod from GM and Segway, respectively, talked up what they each brought to the table, and described the vehicle's inception as a partnership.

Segway obviously brought the two-wheel mojo, and seems responsible for most of what's being shown at the moment. As opposed to the Segway's tilt-and-cringe system of navigation, the PUMA has a more regular steering wheel, but while they're currently demonstrating it with Segway-style acceleration, they plan on swapping that for "Nintendo-style" buttons behind the wheel for acceleration and braking. For GM's part, they plan to integrate its "connected vehicles" technologies to improve safety and efficiency -- and we might not see PUMA. on the road until they can pull it off. The car will not only communicate with other cars and with GPS, but will sense and stop for pedestrians. They plan to show a connected version that will be available for test drives by Real Actual Humans this coming fall, and then next year will come the scariest of all unveilings: GM styling. Right now this is just a chassis, GM plans on slapping on all sorts of "fashionable" candy shells, and if the incredibly unrealistic and "futuristic" renders we saw are any indication (see the gallery below), we'd really rather do without...

VIDEO: GM/Segway Puma!