Comments on: PUMA in Dumbo

By: d'troit

d'troit — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:20:05 +0000

I thought it was a PUTA–personal urban transportation appliance.

By: That's a car?

That's a car? — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:23:04 +0000

Steve, you are being kind….I believe a stroller could knock that thing over…..nevermind the wind. God forbid a Segway hits it, lol.

By: dumbostreets

dumbostreets — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:15:50 +0000

Walking is ideal, but if people need to drive in a dense city, smaller vehicles make sense. As far as safety, I bet this is safer than a motorcycle. It may lack the bulk of a SUV, but those things flip… There are no shortage of safety issues with SUV designs. Depending on the engineering, a small vehicle might roll / resist impact more effectively…

The short of it is there either needs to be less cars on the road, more roads, or smaller cars. The last option seems the most likely to me.

By: shut yo mouth

shut yo mouth — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:22:41 +0000

see, this is why americans are getting fatter and fatter. these companies are always trying to find a way to so call “improve” the way we live by making it more accessible for us to move around. there is nothing wrong with good ol’ fashion walking, especially if you are fat borderline obese

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:58:07 +0000

one hit from a car/truck and the PUMA and occupants will be a stain. i’ll keep my big gas guzzler to roam the streets!

By: Marc Johnson

Marc Johnson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:28:06 +0000

Detailed info here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAqPMJFaEdY

By: dumbostreets

dumbostreets — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:57:32 +0000

GM is obviously trying to catch some stimulus money with this; and robotics is one area of the economy that is doing well due to military spending, which is probably the origin for this tech.

It’s true that when I walk the bridge and see lines of cars with one person in each vehicle, that situation seems far more absurd than a 2 wheel sub-sub-compact.

By: That's a car?

That's a car? — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:19:28 +0000

Yes, from the maker of the Segway – you know, the two wheel wonder that George W Bush fell off? Wasn’t the segway supposed to change how we move around? That it was going to revolutionize cities? That cities would change everything about themselves to support them? Oh yeah, NYC said no. End of story.