The Future is here..........
To unclog the busy streets of Paris, two entrepreneurs are building an egg-shaped river shuttle that will essentially fly above the Seine, the next iteration of which will be summoned by a smartphone and piloted by a robot.
In the fast paced gadget world we live in, this is the next step in man's quest to dominate nature with technology and essentially beat traffic which is what we all want . a founder of SeaBubbles said on Thursday the company raised 500,000 euros ($555,000) to do just that, with backers including the founder of drone-maker Parrot SA, Partech Ventures and the French government-backed BPI fund. Another funding round will take place by the end of August to develop a taxi app and docking stations around the pod.
The company wants to build battery-powered bubble-shaped ships that hover a few inches above water and transport as many as five people at a time. The founders intend to be operating by the summer of 2017.
As it seeks more cash to turn its bubbles into cabs, the startup says it’s reached out to car-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. as well as construction company Vinci SA and luxury-goods maker LVMH. There are discussions but no commitments have been made.
“You’ve got packed roads and empty waterways in a lot of cities -- there’s an obvious opportunity,” co-founder Alain Thebault said in an interview. “We want to build water taxis.”
Each shuttle will carry five people, including a pilot, but the goal is to forgo the pilot and make the system fully autonomous in a few years once regulation allows it, Thebault said. Currently, navigation rules on the Seine don’t permit the operation of vessels that lack a skipper. Carmakers, battery vendors and software engineering companies have expressed interest in helping develop upgrades and scale production, he said, declining to cite any names.
The bubbles would get a lift and hover above water thanks to a similar physics phenomenon to the one that propels their record-setting Hydroptere sailboat in the air.
The startup will sell the pods to individuals as well as countries, cities and companies, but its founders are still debating whether they want to manage a taxi service themselves or outsource it.
Dear Nigerian Millionaires can we place orders for this ...what do i call it hover boat or Flying River Taxi?? I am all set to fly over water wearing a bunch of safety vests though ....Let's wait for China to bring out a cheaper model in 5....4...3.....2...1
To unclog the busy streets of Paris, two entrepreneurs are building an egg-shaped river shuttle that will essentially fly above the Seine, the next iteration of which will be summoned by a smartphone and piloted by a robot.
In the fast paced gadget world we live in, this is the next step in man's quest to dominate nature with technology and essentially beat traffic which is what we all want . a founder of SeaBubbles said on Thursday the company raised 500,000 euros ($555,000) to do just that, with backers including the founder of drone-maker Parrot SA, Partech Ventures and the French government-backed BPI fund. Another funding round will take place by the end of August to develop a taxi app and docking stations around the pod.
The company wants to build battery-powered bubble-shaped ships that hover a few inches above water and transport as many as five people at a time. The founders intend to be operating by the summer of 2017.
As it seeks more cash to turn its bubbles into cabs, the startup says it’s reached out to car-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. as well as construction company Vinci SA and luxury-goods maker LVMH. There are discussions but no commitments have been made.
“You’ve got packed roads and empty waterways in a lot of cities -- there’s an obvious opportunity,” co-founder Alain Thebault said in an interview. “We want to build water taxis.”
Each shuttle will carry five people, including a pilot, but the goal is to forgo the pilot and make the system fully autonomous in a few years once regulation allows it, Thebault said. Currently, navigation rules on the Seine don’t permit the operation of vessels that lack a skipper. Carmakers, battery vendors and software engineering companies have expressed interest in helping develop upgrades and scale production, he said, declining to cite any names.
The bubbles would get a lift and hover above water thanks to a similar physics phenomenon to the one that propels their record-setting Hydroptere sailboat in the air.
The startup will sell the pods to individuals as well as countries, cities and companies, but its founders are still debating whether they want to manage a taxi service themselves or outsource it.
Dear Nigerian Millionaires can we place orders for this ...what do i call it hover boat or Flying River Taxi?? I am all set to fly over water wearing a bunch of safety vests though ....Let's wait for China to bring out a cheaper model in 5....4...3.....2...1
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