The Superbus concept, which is invented by prof. Wubbo Ockels, is a concept for public transport that uses high speed, (150 – 250 km/h) road driven vehicles. The vehicles drive at high speed on dedicated infrastructure, the so-called Super tracks. The vehicles drive at normal speeds on existing roads. The basic idea is to offer comfortable, demand driven, point-to-point transport that is able to compete with cars and high speed trains.
Next to the development of the vehicle itself, research will be performed into dedicated infrastructure. These Super tracks can be located close to existing highways. In winter they will be geothermically heated in order to prevent icing. By storing heat in the summer and using it in winter this system will not require additional energy. Next to that it will have a beneficial effect on road maintenance due the more constant temperature of the road during the whole of the year.
In order to make point-to-point transport possible an ordering system will be developed. This ordering system will make use of internet and SMS. The system will try to combine passengers with the same origin and destination as much as possible. This results in minimizing the number of stops needed during the trip.
Next to the development of an experimental demonstration vehicle, research into logistics, infrastructure, safety, reliability and return on investment will be performed. The total costs of the design and development of the experimental demonstration vehicle is estimated at 8.5 million euro.