Start-up to build eco-friendly flying' water taxi to curb pollution

With the inception of drones and connected vehicles, the prospect of commuting seems bright than ever. Over the past few years, relentless mutual efforts by automobile companies and tech vanguards have helped in the development of future-ready vehicles.

Taking the idea of eco-friendly connected vehicles further, two entrepreneurs are building the world’s first ever eco-friendly ‘flying’ water taxi which will hover a few inches above water and transport people across large rivers and other water bodies.

The think-tanks behind the idea and founders of SeaBubbles Anders Bringdal and Alain Thebault pointed out that pollution is rising at an alarming pace and there is a dire need to develop greener modes of transportation for reducing it.

As of now, there is a critical dearth of eco-friendly vehicles, and unending traffic congestions on roads are frequent occurrences in most parts of the globe. In fact, modes of water transports are also gravely responsible for escalating levels of water pollution.

Moreover, this project will also help free jam-packed roads and make transport swifter. SeaBubbles declared that it has already received a massive funding of 500,000 euros ($550,000) for the project from Partech Ventures and the French government-backed BPI fund.

Another round of funding will take place in the month of August to develop a supporting taxi app and docking stations around the pod.

According to timeline details furnished on the company’s website, it has already finished ideating the final design, and the boat will be ready for testing by the end of this month. If things go as planned, production work will commence by January 2017 and deliveries will be completed by March next year.

Though there in not much information about the ‘flying cabs’, initial reports indicate that the bubble-shaped ships will hover inches above the water and will carry a maximum of five passengers, including a pilot.

However, the main goal of the duo behind the project is to eliminate the need for a pilot and make the system fully autonomous in future. The nifty smart ship is primarily designed for use in and around metropolitans.

The smart pods will utilise a battery-driven propulsion system with no emission. It won’t cause any pollution and won’t erode river walls as it does not generate waves even at full velocity.

The start-up plans to sell these pods to individuals as well as other countries, cities and companies. If this project sees the light of the day, commuting will become much easier and will also help in freeing up traffic-clogged roads.