Tuesday, April 7, 2009

I knew there was something cookin' at Segway

When I talked to the folks at Segway last week about meeting up when I'm in New Hampshire they were game, but asked if we could hold off talking about it for another two weeks. They said they were working on some "special projects." Well, it's pretty clear what those projects are now. Segway has teamed up with GM to create the PUMA. It's a two wheeled device that falls somewhere between Segway and golf cart. I always thought that it was time to forget the evolution of the automobile and start again from scratch. We'll compile a list of needs that commuters have, and try to address them with a whole new vehicle. It seems that Segway's got the same idea with PUMA.



It has a bunch of features which sound super-fancy, but which I don't quite understand like "dynamic stabilization," "advanced sensing," and "drive by wire." Basically, it's a super-balanced, intuitive, and efficient vehicle. The PUMA can get up to 35 MPH and can travel between 25-35 miles on a single charge. Segway's not saying when it will be ready or how much it will cost, but they say it will be fully designed and tested by January 2010. I hope I get to try one out when I visit Segway headquarters in June.

And no news from Ellen Degeneres. I guess I just have to wait until the mysterious "Ellen executive" gets back to me- if he gets back to me. On the bright side, I will be on KGW's Live at 7 next week. I've been a fan of the show since it premiered a few months back, and I'm really excited to be on it. And I topped Brave New Traveler's list of 5 Outrageous Travelers. I have to admit that I'm quite honored. But probably not as honored as I would be if I got a call from Ellen...

1 comment:

Levi said...

OK, Boaz, here is your mission, should you choose to accept it: Do one leg of your journey on one of the abovementioned PUMAs; one leg wearing a pair of Puma sneakers; one leg riding one of those nutty Hillary fetishists (the Party Unity My Ass crowd); and one leg riding an actual, real-life puma.