Concept Vehicule : Otobuxi
The Otobuxi (pronounced ‘Auto Boxy’) is a smart transit vehicle designed to travel in narrow residential streets. With its four wheel steering and electric motors the Otobuxi can travel quietly and with ease on any urban street. It can accommodate up to 12 passengers and it doesn’t require a driver since it will be equipped with a driverless driving system similar to the one used in the famous Google Cars.
Most residential streets are not serviced by city buses, which are either too heavy, bulky or noisy for the residents. There are also less users to fill up a complete city bus, so the Otobuxi could bridge the gap with its medium capacity. The Otobuxi could pick you up right in front of your house exactly when you need a lift, and it would adapt its trip based on your priorities (speed, cost, city highlights etc.). It’s a new kind of vehicle that would fill the gap between cars, taxi cabs and buses, hence its name ‘Oto’ for automobile ‘bu’ for city buses and ‘xi’ for taxis.
To recharge its batteries on the move the Otobuxi would use automatic inductive power transfer like the system currently being tested by Bombardier’s Primove division. To get on board, each passenger would request a pick-up by using a smartphone app and pay the fare with the same app or with a microchip payment system like Paypass from Mastercard. An intelligent transit calculator would automatically propose two or three itineraries to bring you to your final destination by using a combination of vehicles connected to the transit network (Otobuxi, Metro, light rail, buses, commuter trains, taxi, etc.).
I would like to thank Jan Bujnak who created the cool renderings of the Otobuxi concept!
http://www.charlesbombardier.com
