flying boat taxi

Rapidly growing technology has made us quite aware of the changes that may take place in the coming future. Uber has already announced about its air taxis, and soon we may see people above the sleek roads, in the air driving their flying cars.

But for now, we just have to adjust with the SeaBubbles’ “flying” boats. Yes! You read it right. The France-based company SeaBubbles has just introduced five prototypes of its electric flying boats in Miami this week. The company has been experimenting with its various models for the past three years, and now, it has introduced its first-to-market boat, which is a 4.5-meter flying boat. The boat can carry four passengers besides the driver and uses the waterproof lithium-ion batteries.

The flying boat taxis are the result of the combination of technologies from the nautical industries, aviation, and intelligent software, and the team SeaBubbles includes the qualified aeronautical engineers and watermen, who are working on building fast water taxis to help in reducing the traffic on the roads.

The boat is raised out of the water using the foils that give an illusion of flying boat. In this way, the water drag is reduced, and the boat’s covering is separated from the water, making it run faster even in the rougher waters, maintaining the comfort of the passengers.

For building those flying boats, the company has joined its hands with many other companies, who have helped in building the parts of the boat, using the best of the technologies.

The startup is the idea of its CEO and the French yachtsman Alain Thébault, who broke a world record for sailing speed twice, at 50.17 knots, in 2009, and his co-founder Anders Bringdal, who also set a windsurfing world record, at 51.45 knots. The two co-founders want to bring a clean and fast taxi service for the waterways for the major cities, in order to help reduce the daily traffic in the cities. Earlier the company had also launched one of its windowless white flying boat, named as “Soapdish.”

These flying taxis will also be more cost-effective as those are running on electricity and not on gas. The taxis can be charged at a power station, and those stations will preferably be solar charged.

“The cities today have one thing in common: pollution and congestion. You could do this with a normal boat. But with a normal boat with a normal combustion engine, the fuel price you’re paying is between $70 and $130 per hour. With us, it’s $2 dollars” said Bringdal.

SeaBubbles also has its own mobile application, similar to those of Uber and Ola. The company is currently looking for buyers in Miami, and it alerady has its customers in Russia, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, etc. Although it is also operating in Paris there is a speed limit on boats in Paris, which is not favourable for those Bubble taxis as those are built to run faster.