Voted the most futuristic product at the Consumer Electronics Show for 2011 is the GM en-v, variously described as a scooter-car and a Segway car of sorts.
Only problem is, it looks awfully familiar.
General Motors doesn't say much about it other than the idea is likely to be a decade away from reality - maybe - and it looks like Asia will be its prime market target. And it comes from the Segway concept that was all the rage just a few years ago when it was announced, and which still can be found in the hallways of some airports, mounted by security guards.
But in reality, GM's en-v looks like it is only a step up from something an 18 year old Canadian named Ben Gulak created several years back, called the Uno. His story, fresh from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, made the New York Times in 2008. It made the cover of Popular Sciene that year as one of the top inventions of the year.
Gulak's Uno was actually a motorbike with two wheels mounted next to each other instead of one behind the other, as a conventional motorcycle would be. From the side it looks like one wheel - sort of a motorized unicycle. With his invention though, just as with the Segway, your bike's movement was controlled by your body movement, using gyroscopic tenchology like the Segway's. Perhaps like GM (?), Gulak's idea came after seeing motorbikes in China crowding the streets and spewing smog everywhere.
My brother Larry first spotted the Gulak Uno story a couple of years ago and emailed me about it. Now, in 2011, you have to wonder if GM hired Gulak (after all, he's been to MIT) or if they bought his idea or if they just "adopted" it for themself. After all, it looks like they just put a roof on it and spread the wheels a little and called it their own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.