GM’s Segway Space Pod

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Well, would you check out these little bastards? Wow. As described by our friends over at ClimateProgress.org…

The EN-Vs will have a top speed of 25 miles per hour and a range of 25 miles. They are powered by lithium-ion batteries. GM hopes to outfit them with sensors, cameras and GPS devices so they can communicate with each other, avoid crashes and be operated autonomously. The communication would also let drivers talk to each other while driving, hypothetically creating a situation where two vehicles could hold a video conference while commuting to work.

Pretty friggin’ nifty, to be sure. They look most excellent for navigating the Google campus. Yet somehow I just can’t imagine how they would handle the potholes in my hometown. Actually, I can: Bam! Rattle! Bang! Seems like it would take some serious infrastructure upgrades for these things to be remotely practical in most urban area. Plus, they’re Segways. Just sayin’.

As for autonomous control, for years we’ve had technology that allows cars to join up in a line and commute without the driver’s help—unclogging traffic and saving gas. The problem there is a social one: Relinquishing control of the vehicle freaks people out. ClimateProgress reports that these pods might cost about one-fifth what a car does. But I can think of a cheaper, more practical alternative: the bus.