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Consumer Electronics Show: General Motors goes green with EN-V

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GM has few reasons to be jealous of all the cool gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show after it unveiled a new and extremely green car somewhat playfully called the EN-V. (Green with envy. Get it?)

The Electric Networked-Vehicle, GM’s vision of future urban transportation, is based on research done on the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA, project, which was a collaboration between GM and Segway, maker of the namesake two-wheel personal transporters. It uses much of the same technology found in the Segway PT to balance on its two main drive wheels.

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But this is more than just a Segway built for two: GM predicts that it will drive itself.

The idea is that multiple EN-Vs would connect to one another like a social network to share information about traffic conditions, enabling the car to adjust its speed and route accordingly. Or if there are enough of them on the road, they could help avoid creating traffic snarls.

Another advantage would be that drivers wouldn’t have to drive. They could catch up with work or do a little social networking of their own. The question is whether drivers will want to give up control of their car just so they can play a future version of Farmville.

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-- Tim French

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