China unveils elevated bus that can literally drive over traffic jams

This chinese bus literally drives over traffic. — (Image credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Chinese developers might have just single-handedly solved both the country's traffic and air pollution problems with their latest invention. The country's state news agency, Xinhua, reported Thursday that developers have come up with a bus called the Transit Explore Bus, which is elevated off the ground so that cars can drive underneath it. The bus would glide along on rails straddling two lanes of traffic, offer enough space for cars less than two meters high to pass underneath it, and be able to travel at speeds up to about 37 miles per hour.

While the bus is still in the planning stages, developers say it could cut down big time on traffic and, subsequently, the country's increasingly worrisome air pollution problem. One of the project's lead engineers, Song Youzhou, estimates this project would cost just 16 percent of the theoretical cost of an entirely new subway, and that construction of the bus would be much quicker than other alternatives. Youzhou says the bus would be powered by electricity and could replace as many as 40 regular buses, thanks to its carrying capacity of up to 1,400 passengers.

The first bus is set to be tested at the end of July or in August outside of China's Qinhuangdao City.