GM’s EN-V, or Electric Networked Vehicle - zero-emission pod - uses GPS satellite signals to steer you around -
GM’s EN-V, or Electric Networked Vehicle, an autonomous pod-shaped car, would be able to use GPS satellite signals to steer you and a passenger anywhere within a 25-mile radius at a top speed of between 25 and 30 miles an hour. And there have been rumors that the car is gearing up for production. But if you’re waiting to get your hands on the zero-emission pod, here’s a message from GM: Don’t hold your breath.
“We have no plans to . . . bring it to life as a production model,” said GM’s spokesman for R&D and powertrain, Dan Flores. According to Flores, the EN-V is “purely a concept vehicle.”
“We, as an automaker, want to continue selling products around the world,” he said, going on to reference the fact that GM now sells more cars to foreign consumers than to domestic ones. The EN-V is powered by a lithium-ion battery and was created at GM’s Technical Center in Warren, Mich. It was unveiled last year in Singapore.
“It’s actually designed with the intention of helping a real-world problem — that is urban congestion,” said Flores, referring specifically to the congestion found in mega-cities such as New York, Mumbai and Shanghai. “Essentially EN-V is us thinking out loud” about how to address urban traffic.
GM hopes to begin field trials in the next two to three years. However, current GPS technology is not sophisticated enough to accurately steer the car.
Aside from the need for an improved GPS grid, cities would need to commit to a large infrastructure investment before the EN-V could be considered for wider adoption. Flores noted that, in light of this, the EN-V was likely to be more easily adopted in emerging markets where city infrastructure is being built from scratch.
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