Hasta La Gadget!

The future of auto isn’t flying cars. It’s puny, slow, electric-powered pods that can drive themselves.

That’s what General Motors thinks, at least. The EN-V (pronounced “envy” and short for Electric Network Vehicle) line of cars is GM’s concept vehicle that’s energized by electricity and hydrogen. It has a maximum speed of 25 mph, and it’s controlled with a touchscreen steering wheel and wireless technologies.

GM predicts that in roughly 20 years, 80 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas, which means congestion, parking and environmental issues will become major problems.

So, future drivers might consider the EN-V. Each EN-V vehicle measures about one-sixth the size of a traditional car; it’s powered by a battery so you won’t be polluting with gas. The pod is also equipped with a wireless antenna and GPS sensors communicating with a network to enable autonomous driving.

Tap a button and the EN-V will use its geoawareness to automatically park in a spot. Six of these EN-Vs can squeeze into one parking space.

Or if you’re feeling especially lazy (or drunk), you can also choose to automatically follow another EN-V — the sensors ensure you move in the same direction and constantly retain a safe distance from the EN-V in front of you.

The steering-wheel touchscreen even includes a videophone to chat with other EN-V drivers, since you don’t have to pay attention to the road when the car is driving itself.

“We call it virtual ballet,” said Dr. Chris Borroni-Bird, program director for GM’s AUTOnomy group. “Clearly you can see benefits for this in terms of your daily life and saving energy.”

While it’s difficult to imagine an EN-V in your neighborhood in the near future, these cars will likely be very affordable thanks to their small body size and light weight, Borroni-Bird said.

You won’t want one of these, however, in a city with lots of hills like San Francisco: The EN-V is a self-balancing vehicle, and company officials told me it’s not good at handling steep inclines just yet.

Check out the video above for a driving demonstration of the EN-V in a Las Vegas parking lot at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show.