The high-speed bus that could slash journey times between Abu Dhabi and Dubai to 30 minutes went on show - and its creator said he hoped the UAE would be the first country to introduce the vehicle.
Professor Wubbo Ockels, Holland's first astronaut, said: "Of course we hope that the Netherlands is going to be the first country, but we realise that, in the Netherlands, things don't go as fast as here, so we hope here will be the first."
The Superbus, which is being developed at the Delft University of Technology in Holland, is on show in Dubai at the UITP Mobility and City Transport Expo - the first time it has been seen outside Europe.
Offering the convenience of a car, the Superbus is 15 meters long and has eight doors on each side. It would run on a dedicated two-lane highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and leave the “speed track” in urban areas to drop off passengers at agreed locations.
Powered by lithium iron phosphate batteries, the 530 hp carbon-fibre vehicle is similar in length and width to a public bus, but with the height of a conventional SUV. The Superbus, which uses rear wheel steering, boasts high manoeuvrability, formidable breaking power and safety based on the use of advanced radar and electronic obstacle detection systems.
The fully functioning prototype has already reached 140kph in tests, and Prof Ockels said he would be surprised if the electric vehicle had not touched its theoretical cruising speed of 250kph by October.
The team has brought the environmentally friendly Superbus to the UAE because of the interest shown in sustainable transport by the authorities here.
It has been dubbed the “Dutch solution” to the three ills of public transportation: congestion, pollution, and safety.
The idea for the Superbus was born during a rather more prosaic journey - a commute between the two towns in Holland where he worked as a university professor.
"Delft and Groningen are 200km apart," Prof Ockels said. "On the days I travelled between them it took me fours hours in the morning by train and five hours to go back in the evening. So I had nine hours for 200km and I said, 'this is not right'.
"And then I thought, as a customer, what's the ideal public transport? It needs to be fast but not like a fast train, because I don't live near a station.
"So fast, but I want it to be flexible and use normal roads because, with normal roads, you can access the place where you want to be.
"So I had to think of a combination of high speed and flexibility - and that's a high-speed bus. Then I didn't want it to pollute, so it had to be electrical."
He said he hoped that within five years the first Superbus system would be up and running, adding: "Within 10 years I'd hope we would have a few hundred vehicles."
The Superbus was designed by Italian Antonia Terzi, an ex-Formula One aerodynamicist with the Ferrari and Williams teams. The vehicle incorporates a number of technologies borrowed from Formula One.
The first prototype version of the Superbus makes its Middle East debut when it goes on show at the five-day UITP Mobility and City Transport Expo getting under way on Sunday at Dubai National Exhibition and Convention Centre. The Superbus will remain on show at the expo at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre until April 14, 2011.
The first Superbus road tests took place in Holland last September. Although no feasibility studies have been done yet for the Abu Dhabi-Dubai route, the similar Amsterdam-Groningen route has been studied by the Dutch government, with other high speed connection routes currently under evaluation for several other countries around the world.
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