12 March 2012

Is it a snail? Is it a limo? No, it's Superbus!

It looks like stretched snail turned into a long limo, but this will be the bus of the future if the vision of a Dutch engineer comes true, writes Brian Byrne.

If it seems out of this world, well, the conceptualiser is Holland's first astronaut, Wubb Ockels, who also happens to be a professor of engineering in Delft.

The Superbus could drive at 155mph, along special highways. On these 'Supertracks', steering would be done by the vehicles computer and an array of sensors. On smaller roads, an operator would do the driving.

Superbus is 50 feet long, can accommodate 23 passengers, has gullwing doors, and there's a driving prototype which you can see here, explained by its designer designer Dr Antonia Terzi.