Have you heard of the Superbus? You could have already, as it has been in prototype production for years, and has recently been gaining more attention at auto shows and through public demonstrations. Like a stretch Batmobile that seems yet another triumph for Saudi and Emirate auto enthusiasts, passengers and their entourages enter the car under a row of gull-wings. The bus, which is better described as a sex-oozing cigarette-car, boasts a tantric approach to the environment: running on batteries, it can fly along at nearly 300 km/h (or 192 mph), and quite ‘silently.’ It will need to make periodic pitstops at a giant USB port.The team behind the concept, at Delft Technology University in the Netherlands, is composed of Wubbo Ockels, the first space-flying Dutchman and the head of TU’s ASSET program; Joris Melkert, an aerospace engineer responsible for helping create the fastest solar-powered car; and chief designer Antonia Terzi, an Italian from BMW-Williams Formula 1 team. The team explains their concept thusly:Carefree and comfortable travel, customized according to your needs. You can get in the vehicle wherever and whenever you need. It will take you to your destination without any changeovers. During the journey, you can get on with your work, or sit back and enjoy the speed and the luxury. This service will be yours for a fare which is comparable to the prices of present day's public transport… For this new concept, all of the intelligence and innovation is put into the vehicle, whereas the dedicated infrastructure, where the Superbus runs at 250 km/h, is made of relatively cheap concrete roads.
Hasn’t the futuristic dream of moving masses down the road run its lap already? With Volvo and Google trying to create sustainable road trains and driverless vehicles, and municipalities around the world taking to the very sane idea of dedicating existing street lanes to rapid transit buses, this particular reinvention feels like an over-glorified bogey to real invention. Sure, power-sliding with your entire Saudi family into a McDonald’s parking lot could be adorable, but the Superbus would need its own roadway (to attain its desired pace). The new roadway would probably need its own McDonald’s, and a lot of extra concrete to pull off that awesome power-slide. Gonna go ahead and forget I said anything about sustainability.
Being sequestered to high-speed rail might not be the future for Superbus’ lead designer, Antonia Terzi, but may I ask, how does this improve ground transport? What future does it imply? If the future of travel is taking people anywhere and everywhere, then it might be time to get over the infatuation with cars and creating bigger road hogs that need their own pasture to graze. Upping sophistication in tech for hurdling small groups across the unsophisticated tech of low-albedo asphalt is only progressive in a world of obsolete delusions. It feels to me like those betting on the future of mobility would smartly promote ways of using the road we have – the Google car and the road trains may be successful yet – as well as an affordable and easy-to-use personal aircraft. I guess those guys in the Superbus will just see us waving down from our jetpacks.Follow Motherboard on Facebook and TwitterReach this writer at mail@danstuckey.com or @danstuckey
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Demo video (via and Erik Stinson)
Dedicated Infrastructure = Cheap?
