GM and Segway announced this morning an enclosed two wheel vehicle for urban driving - the PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility). Apropos my earlier comment of technology versus process innovation, I don't think the PUMA will save GM. Much more innovation - defined as a new way of thinking" will be needed at GM.
However, the PUMA is more than just a new technology. In fact, it seems to me to be more of a repackaging of the existing Segway technology -- although I am sure there are some technological refinements as well. The original Segway never became the game-changing technology that it was hyped to be. Part of the problem with the original scooter design is that it was caught in between concepts -- it didn't really belong on the roads but was a problem on sidewalks as well. The new PUMA is clearly a road vehicle, so it may be a better fit to the urban market.
On the other hand, it may just be more of a general marketing tool. As the Wall Street Journal notes, "The struggling auto maker, surviving on a government lifeline, is looking to generate enthusiasm for its increasingly uncertain future ahead of the New York auto show this week."
In any event, don't look to see a few these tooling around your streets anytime soon. While this is just the type of thing early technology adopters can't refuse, it is still a prototype. Production won't begin, according to press reports, until at least 2012.
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