We first told you about GM’s EN-V personal-mobility pods when they were shown at last year’s World Expo Shanghai. We got our first in-person look at them at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, and experienced this possible future during a brief spin in one of the prototypes.
GM believes that as urban areas get more densely populated and more wealth flows to big cities around the world, consumers will want small, efficient vehicles that allow them to maintain their freedom to go where they want instead of opting for public transportation. EN-V stands for electric networked vehicle—along with taking up less space than a traditional car, the EN-V can communicate with other vehicles on the road, avoid pedestrians, and be controlled remotely. The two-seat, two-wheeled pods balance like a Segway; the EN-V project is an evolution of the PUMA concept that was unveiled in 2009 in a joint partnership with Segway. All three of these enclosed creations are based on the same platform, with each different design hailing from one of GM’s styling centers: the red car was designed in Russelsheim, Germany; the blue one was done in Melbourne, and the gray EN-V in Los Angeles.
A combination of vehicle-to-vehicle communication and onboard sensors allows the EN-V to differentiate itself from conventional vehicles beyond its looks. The vehicle can drive autonomously—with or without passengers—and be parked and retrieved remotely using a mobile-phone app. Multiple EN-Vs can form a sort of train, with the lead driver controlling the movement. And the sensors keep them from hitting one another or knocking over pedestrians.
After seeing a demonstration of those capabilities, we were given a brief ride around the convention-center parking lot. You gain access to the cockpit by flipping the front of the canopy back—think top-hinged Isetta door. Once inside, a press of a button lifts the nose so that the EN-V is balancing on its wheels; instead of the rider shifting his or her weight when in motion like on a Segway, the EN-V slides the passenger compartment forward and back over the wheeled platform to keep everything balanced. As a result, you quickly forget that the cabin is suspended by just two wheels. Turning the steering yoke allows the vehicle to rotate in place for tight maneuvers, and pressing its grips forward move the pod quietly along. At least with a driver at the controls, the EN-V is remarkable in the way that it feels so similar to an electric car while going about its business in such a different way than we’re accustomed.
If the EN-V or something like it were to come to market, it’s possible that future generations of big-city “drivers” would be able to skip the process of learning to drive. While we wouldn’t welcome the associated loss of the piloting experience, it’s clear that maneuvering in congestion would remove that enjoyment anyway. From a safety and efficiency standpoint, the EN-V makes sense, and we can’t blame GM for wanting to keep its options open in the event of a market shift. Don’t be surprised if we resurrect the Save the Manuals campaign when that happens.
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